Best Thiebou Dienn Sous Verre Senegalese Rice And Fish Stew Recipes

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THIEBOU DIENN SOUS VERRE (SENEGALESE RICE AND FISH STEW)



Thiebou Dienn Sous Verre (Senegalese Rice and Fish Stew) image

This savory rice and fish stew is the national dish of Senegal. It is an African classic and one that nobody who visits Senegal will miss. Like many of Africa's festive dishes, this is not a stew to prepare for a few guests. The multiple ingredients necessary for the truly elegant version that is called thiebou dienn sous verre, as well as the time necessary to prepare it properly, mean that this is a dish to save for special entertaining.

Provided by Food Network

Categories     main-dish

Yield Serves 8 to 10

Number Of Ingredients 20

4 tablespoons peanut oil
2 large onions, minced
3-inch piece smoked fish (guedge or yete if possible)
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
9 cups slightly salted cold water
1 bunch parsley, trimmed
2 large cloves garlic
1 fresh bird chile
2 scallions
3 pounds sea bass tail, cleaned and cut into steaks 1 1/2 inches thick
1/2 pound calabaza, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
1/2 pound sweet cassava, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
5 small purple turnips, quartered
1 small green cabbage, cut into eighths
4 sweet potatoes, quartered
2 small eggplants, cut into 1-inch slices
5 carrots, scraped and cut into chunks
12 small okra pods, washed and topped and tailed (any hard pods discarded)
1 habanero chile, pricked with a fork
2 pounds broken rice

Steps:

  • Heat the oil in a large stockpot and brown the onion. Add the smoked fish, the tomato paste, and 1/4 cup of the salted water. While the onion mixture is browning, prepare the stuffing for the sea bass steaks by placing the parsley, garlic, chile, and scallions in a food processor and pulsing until they form a thick paste. When the paste is ready, score the sea bass steaks and poke the stuffing into the slits.
  • Place the sea bass in the stockpot with the onion mixture, allow it to cook for 5 minutes, and add the remaining water. When the fish mixture comes to a boil, cover the pot, lower the heat, and add the vegetables in the order given, finishing off with the pricked habanero chile, which you will remove (and reserve) when the thiebou dienn is spicy enough for you. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove the sea bass steaks keeping them whole, and place them on a serving platter. Cover them with a bit of the cooking liquid, and keep them warm.
  • Continue cooking the thiebou dienn for an additionaly 15 minutes, then remove the vegetables and arrange them on a platter and keep them warm. Reserve 2 cups of the cooking liquid to make the sauces. Return the remaining liquid to a boil, add the rice, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is done.
  • While the rice is cooking, pulverize the habanero chile that you have reserved and add it to 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid. Heat it, stirring occasionally, and place it in a sauceboat. Heat the remaining cup of reserved cooking liquid and place it in a separate sauceboat. This will give you a regular sauce and a fiery hot one.
  • When ready to serve, mound the rice on one platter and the fish and vegetables on another. Alternatively, you can place the rice in a large basin or deep dish and arrange the vegetables and fish on top and eat Senegalese-style with your hands (right hand only, please!) or with a large spoon.

SENEGALESE RICE WITH FISH



Senegalese Rice with Fish image

Provided by Alexis Touchet

Categories     Fish     Garlic     Onion     Rice     Braise     Ramadan     Eggplant     Carrot     Turnip     Okra     Cabbage     Parsley     Gourmet

Yield Makes 6 servings

Number Of Ingredients 20

2 1/8 cups chopped onion (from 3 medium)
1 1/4 cups peanut oil
5 large garlic cloves (2 cloves finely chopped and 3 cloves chopped)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (28 fl oz)
1 1/2 lb fresh cassava (also called yuca)
1/8 lb eggplant
3 medium carrots, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces (1 1/4 cups)
2 medium turnips, cut into 1-inch pieces (2 1/2 cups)
1/8 lb cabbage, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces (4 cups)
8 small fresh or frozen okra (2 oz)
1 (2-oz) piece dried fish such as stockfish (optional), broken into 2 or 3 pieces
4 cups water
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne
1/8 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 (1-lb) whole white-fleshed fish (each about 12 inches long) such as red snapper, cleaned, leaving head and tail intact
2 cups long-grain white rice (1/8 lb)
Special Equipment
a large nonreactive roasting pan (16 by 13 by 3 inches; see cooks' note, below)

Steps:

  • Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
  • Cook 2 cups onion in 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add finely chopped garlic (from 2 cloves) and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until caramelized, about 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a boil, stirring until tomato paste is incorporated, then remove from heat.
  • Trim ends of cassava, then halve crosswise and peel, removing all waxy brown skin and pinkish layer underneath. Quarter each half lengthwise, then cut away and discard thin, woody core. Cut cassava crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Cut eggplant into 1-inch pieces.
  • Put cassava, eggplant, carrots, turnips, cabbage, okra, and dried fish (if using) in roasting pan, then straddle pan over 2 burners and add broth mixture (reserve skillet), water, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then transfer to oven and braise, uncovered, stirring twice, until vegetables are just tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  • While vegetables are braising, pulse together parsley, chopped garlic (from remaining 3 cloves), 1/8 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/8 cup onion, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon cayenne in a food processor until finely chopped.
  • Lay 1 fish on its side with gutted side facing you. Holding a sharp paring knife at a 30-degree angle from fish, cut 3 evenly spaced (2 1/2-inch-long) slits across center of fish's side to make shallow pockets. (Start at side farthest away from you; be careful not to cut through bone.) Turn fish over and cut 3 slits across center of other side in same manner, then repeat with remaining 2 fish. Pat fish dry, then stuff slits with parsley mixture (some mixture will come out of slits).
  • Clean skillet and wipe dry, then heat remaining cup oil in skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Brown fish, 1 at a time (fish will not lie flat in skillet), turning over once carefully using tongs and a metal spatula, until golden, about 2 minutes per fish. Transfer as browned with tongs and spatula to a shallow baking pan.
  • Arrange fish over vegetables and braise in oven, without stirring, until fish is just cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes (test for doneness in thickest part of fish). Transfer fish using tongs and spatula to a platter, then transfer vegetables with slotted spoon to a large bowl and keep warm, covered with foil.
  • Pour cooking liquid from roasting pan into a 1-quart liquid measure and add enough water to total 4 cups liquid.
  • Bring liquid (4 cups), rice, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt to a full rolling boil in a 4-quart heavy pot, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook, undisturbed, until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, undisturbed, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
  • Spoon vegetable mixture into center of a very large platter, then spoon rice around vegetables. Arrange fish on vegetables.

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