If there is one dream I have, it is to travel the world trying out food from different countries. Pending the time that dream ever becomes a reality, I can certainly explore those countries right from my kitchen here in Canada, it is all about Thieboudienne today.
What is Thieboudienne?
Thieboudienne, which is pronounced as “che-boo-jen” meaning rice and fish in the Wolof language, is the national dish of Senegal.
The Senegalese independence day was April 4 and in the spirit of celebrating with them, I made this dish. After trying this Jollof dish, I can confidently say the so-called Jollof war between Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and any other African country really does not exist.
Each country’s jollof rice dish has its peculiarities. This lies in the uniqueness of ingredients used in their making. Let’s dive into the unique ingredients that make the Thieboudienne recipe stand out from the rest.
Jollof Rice can be paired with my delicious Homemade Peri Peri Chicken Wings. Take time to also learn How to Make Nigerian Fish Pepper Soup .
Ingredients for making Thieboudienne (Senegalese Jollof Rice)
Broken Rice
Finding broken rice was not an easy feat I tell you. I was ready to go the extra mile to find the ingredients traditionally used for this dish. Use white rice, basmati or jasmine rice in the absence of broken rice.
Sea Fish
I chose fresh Tilapia fish for this recipe. You can use which ever sea fish easily accessible to you. The fish is marinated in a green marinade which I shall be sharing details about as you read on.
Root Vegetables
The root vegetables used here are cassava and sweet potato. These can be purchased from your local grocery store. Cassava is widely consumed across Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Guedj Kong (Cured/Fermented Fish)
This is also called momoni by Ghanaians and can be purchased at your local African store. I must warn you though, it does not have the most pleasant smell, but it gives an umami flavour to any dish it is added in.
Explore other savoury recipes such as Authentic Efo Riro Recipe (Nigerian Spinach Stew)
Okra
Now in Nigeria, we consume okra differently than how this dish uses it; we boil it whole in the pepper sauce.
Greens
The greens include spring onion, jalapeno, fresh parsley, and green scotch bonnets were roughly blended and served as the marinade for the fish.
The ton of flavor in Thieboudienne comes mostly from marinating the fish and cooking the vegetables in the sauce before adding the rice. The same oil used for shallow-frying the marinated fish is also used for the jollof rice.
Whether you are making this for yourself or others, the process is certainly a labour of LOVE.
Also check out How to Make Somalia’s Delicious Suugo Suqaar (Pasta with Meat Sauce)
If you are new to making any kind of Jollof rice, I would advise that you follow this recipe to a T for best results. If you do make this, do share your experience in the comments, love to hear it!
Thieboudienne Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 whole Tilapia fish this can be substituted with whiting, red snapper, whole salmon etc
- 6 cups broken rice
*Pepper mix*
- 5 tomatoes
- 3 large red bell peppers
- 1 white onion
- 3-5 scotch bonnets according to heat tolerance
*Marinade*
- Fresh parsley
- Spring onion
- Jalapeno
- 2 green scotch bonnets
- Garlic
- 1 onion
- Fennel seeds
- Black pepper
- Curry optional
- Salt
- Bouillon
- Ginger
*Vegetables & Others*
- 2 156 ml tins of tomato paste
- 2 carrots
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 eggplant
- 1 tuber of cassava
- Momoni cured fish
- 4 okra pieces
- 1 small cabbage
- 2 onions
- Garlic
- Salt to taste
- Bay leaves
- Canola oil for shallow frying
- 6-8 cups of water or as needed
Instructions
- Cut each tilapia in two and rinse well ensuring to take out the guts.
- Rinse and roughly blend all the ingredients listed for the marinade, you can use a food processor for this step.
- Make slits in the fish and incorporate half of the marinade into the slits of the fish pieces, coat the rest of the fish with the marinade and let sit overnight if you like or 45mins-1hour like I did.
- Boil the pepper mix ingredients and let cool before blending.
- Heat up large pot or skillet, add in about 6 cups of oil for shallow frying, the goal is to shallowly immerse the fish, not deep fry.
- Season the fish with salt and your seasoning of choice just before frying, make sure to flip over halfway through. Set aside.
- Drain the oil of any particles and add in about 2 1/2 cups of it back into the pot.
- Add in chopped onion and garlic, fry before adding in tomato paste. Fry till translucent.
- Go in with the leftover marinade and continue frying.
- Add the cured fish.
- Blend and add in pepper mix, continue frying and stirring to prevent burning for 20-25 mins.
- Adjust seasoning, add in bay leaves.
- Add in some water and introduce the fried fish to sauce it, let cook in the sauce for 5-10 mins. Take out and set aside.
- Prep cassava, potatoes, and the veggies and add them into the sauce to cook, take out and set aside in a warm place.
- Rinse broken rice to get rid of the starch before adding into the sauce.
- Use a foil sheet before covering with the pot lid to lock in the steam. Cook on low heat for 45 min or till you have your desired texture of rice.
- Fluff it out and plate the rice topping off with the fish and veggies.
