Poulet Yassa
This dish is a favorite of American visitors. It’s awesome!
1 kilo chicken pieces
2 kilos purple onions, chopped
1 cup oil
½ cup mustard (Dijon)
2 cubes bouillon
black pepper
salt
dried hot peppers
2 lemons (juice)
6 cups rice
Sliced green peppers and tomatoes
Fry chicken pieces until dark brown. Save oil and slowly sauté onions (2 hours). Add chicken, mustard, hot pepper, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Let simmer for up to an hour. Serve over white rice and top with freshly sliced veggies.
New Year’s Guacamole and Salsa mix
5 ripe avocadoes, cut in half and fruit scooped into bowl
3 red tomatoes, chopped
2 red onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Juice of 3 limes
2 bunches fresh cilantro, chopped
Serves six to eight people
Mash avocado until mostly smooth. Add other ingredients and mix well. Top with more lime juice and dash seasoning salt. Serve with tortilla chips, pita bread, or my personal favorite…Pringles!
Cost of guacamole and salsa ingredients in Senegal: 2300 cfa or $4.19
Cost of one can of Pringles in Senegal: 1800 cfa or $3.28
Fatouche
1 pita bread cut into small pieces and toasted under the grill
1 cup diced cucumber
1/2 head lettuce chopped
4 tomatoes diced
1/2 c fresh mint chopped
1 cup flat leaf parsley chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1/4 c diced radish (optional)
1/2 c lemon juice
3 tbs olive oil
Mix well and chill.
Sauce l’ail
4 bulbs garlic
1 c lemon juice
1 tsp salt
3 c olive oil
Put first 3 ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Add in an extremely slow stream 3-4 c oil. Blend constantly on medium. Serve as a dip for raw veggies (cucumbers, celery, green onions, or radishes) or pita bread.
Attaya (Senegalese Tea)
Attaya is the Senegalese tea ceremony. It’s served in three rounds. The first is strong and bitter, the second more sweet with a little mint, and the third is very sweet with more mint. It’s supposed to reflect friendship: The longer we’re together the sweeter it grows.
Round one (called Lewel)
In a small tea pot (brada) put one cup water, 1 small glass (Kas) of sugar, and 1 small glass (kas) of tea leaves (warga). Set the pot on the fuurnu (small grill or gas burner) and bring the mix to a boil. Remove from heat and pour some of the content into each of the four small glasses. Begin pouring the liquid back and forth between the glasses until each glass has foam on it. Keeping the foam in the glasses, pour the liquid back into the brada and bring to a boil again. Remove from heat and pour into the glasses. Mix again until foam is even bigger then serve round one.
Round two
Add water to the brada (warga should still be in the pot). Add mint leaves (nana) and/or pastilles (a mint candy similar to gum drops) to the pot. Bring to a boil. Add two generous kas of sugar, bring to a boil again. Remove from heat and pour some of the content into each of the four small glasses. Begin pouring the liquid back and forth between the glasses until each glass has foam on it. Keeping the foam in the glasses, pour the liquid back into the brada and bring to a boil again. Remove from heat and pour into the glasses. Mix again until foam is even bigger then serve round two.
Round three
Add water and a little more warga to the pot. Add mint leaves (nana) and/or pastilles to the pot (be generous, this is the yummy round!). Bring to a boil. Add three generous kas of sugar and bring again to a boil. Remove from heat and pour some of the content into each of the four small glasses. Begin pouring the liquid back and forth between the glasses until each glass has foam on it. Keeping the foam in the glasses, pour the liquid back into the brada and bring to a boil again. Remove from heat and pour into the glasses. Mix again until foam is even bigger then serve round three.
Attaya with Kate, Peggy, and my night guards Moussa and Samba
Ceebu Jen
This rice (ceeb) and fish (jen) recipe is the national dish of Senegal and can also be made with beef. Most Senegalese will serve the rice on a large platter with the fish and veggies in the center. Normally you eat from this common bowl, not from individual plates, with your hands. The hostess will divide up the fish and veggies on to each person's rice portion in front of them. Take a piece of fish or veggies and some rice in your right hand. Squeeze to make a ball and pop it into your mouth. Delicious!
1/2 lb rice
1 lb fish (they use whole fish, heads and all)
cabbage
carrot
2 potatoes
onion
eggplant
2 lemon
1 cup oil
small can tomato paste
clove garlic, minced
salt
parsley
dried hot pepper (hotter the better)
Crush together garlic, 1/2 bunch parsley, salt, pepper, and dried hot pepper.
Rinse the fish. Make 3-4 holes in the fish and stuff with seasoning mixture.
Heat oil in large saucepan. Add sliced onions and salt. Dilute tomato paste with 1/2 cup water and add in two minutes with fish. Let simmer 5 minutes.
Add 6-7 cups water and largely chopped vegetables. Let cook for one hour. Once the veggies are cooked, remove them along with the fish and a little sauce. Use the broth to cook the rice. When cooked, serve on large platter in a 1-2 inch flat layer with veggies and fish piled in center.