← Nouns Cooking · West & East African

Ingredients

• 1 bunch Parsley
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1 Scotch bonnet chilli
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1.2 kg firm white fish steaks on the bone (snapper, grouper or sea bass)
• 125 ml Vegetable oil
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 140 g Tomato purée (paste)
• 2 Tomato, blended
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1.5 l Water
• 3 Carrot, halved
• 1 Sweet potato, cut into large chunks
• 1 small aubergine, quartered
• ½ small cabbage, cut into wedges
• 1 scotch bonnet, left whole
• 8 Okra
• 450 g broken jasmine rice (or jasmine rice), rinsed
• 1 Lime, cut into wedges

Method

1. Blend the herb-stuffing ingredients into a coarse green paste. Cut two deep slits in each fish steak, push in a little paste and rub salt over the outside. Keep the rest of the paste.
2. Heat the oil in a large, wide pot over medium-high heat. Fry the fish for 2–3 min per side until golden but not cooked through, then lift it out.
3. In the same oil, fry the onion for 5 min. Add the tomato paste and fry for 5–8 min, stirring, until it turns deep brick red. Add the blended tomatoes, bay leaves and the leftover herb paste and cook for 5 min.
4. Pour in the water, bring to the boil and add the carrots, sweet potato, aubergine, cabbage and whole scotch bonnet. Simmer for 15 min.
5. Slip in the fish and okra and simmer for 10 min more, until the fish flakes and the vegetables are tender. Lift everything onto a dish, spoon over a little broth and cover with foil.
6. Measure the broth: leave about 900 ml in the pot and keep the rest. Stir in the rice, cover with foil and the lid and cook on low for 25–30 min until tender, adding splashes of the saved broth if it dries out.
7. Spread the rice on a big platter, arrange the fish and vegetables on top and serve with lime wedges. Scrape up the crusty rice from the bottom of the pot (xooñ); it is the best bit.

Tips

• Broken rice is traditional and soaks up the sauce beautifully; look for it in African or Asian shops.
• Many cooks add a piece of dried fish (guedj) or tamarind to the broth for extra depth.
• Wear gloves to cut or blend scotch bonnets, keep your hands away from your eyes and wash the board, knife and blender well afterwards.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Yummy Medley Travel & Munchies