Bowl of Fish & Vegitable Stew
(click to enlarge)

Fish & Vegetable Stew


Africa - Senegal   -   Thiou
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 6 main
***
1-3/4 hrs
Yes		 This stew features both complex textures and intense flavors. My ingredients and steps closely follow the pattern recipe, but are adjusted to my different serving style (see Serving).

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Fish Fillets(1)
Rice Flour
Red Palm Oil (2)
-- Mirepoix
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
--Vegies
Yuca (3)
Carrot
Sweet Potato (4)
Cabbage, green (5)  
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Okra (6)
Vinegar, white
-- Flavorings
Tomato Paste
Dried Shrimp
Dried Clams (7)
Guedge (8)
Yete (8)
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Water
Salt
Lime Juice
Prep   -   (45 min)
  1. Scald TOMATOES one minute in boiling water. Quench in cold water and peel. Chop medium.
  2. Chop ONIONS small. Crush GARLIC and chop fine. Mix.
  3. Peel YUCA and cut into 3/4 inch chunks. Peel CARROTS and cut into 3/4 inch chunks. Peel SWEET POTATO and cut into 3/4 inch chunks. Mix all.
  4. Cut CABBAGE into wedges about 1 inch wide on the wide side.
  5. Trim caps of OKRAS into cones, being careful not to cut into the hollow part. Tumble with Vinegar and set aside for at least 20 minutes. Tumble now and then to keep them wet. This helps keep them from breaking apart in cooking.
  6. Grind DRIED SHRIMP into powder in your spice grinder. Measure is for whole small shrimp.
  7. Squeeze LIME JUICE.
Run   -   (50 min)
  1. In a spacious sauté pan, heat Palm Oil. Very lightly powder fillets with Rice Flour and fry on both sides until crisp. Keep temperature below 400°F/200°C to prevent smoking. Note that rice flour doesn't brown much but gets crisp. Set Fish aside on paper towels. Retain oil in the pan, there should be about 3 Tablespoons - adjust if needed.
  2. IF serving buffet style:   Cut Fish into large bite size pieces (see Serving).
  3. Stir Onion mix into the pan and fry stirring until translucent. Stir in Tomatoes, powdered Dried Shrimp and Dried Clams. Fry stirring over moderate heat until tomatoes are very soft.
  4. Stir in Water and Salt. IF using: stir in Guedge and Yete. Bring to a boil.
  5. If necessary, you can transfer to a larger vessel at this point. This recipe barely fits in a 3-1/2 quart sauté pan.
  6. Stir in Yuca mix. Place Cabbage on top and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Note that the Yuca will cook through but remain very firm.
  7. Drain and rinse Okra. Stir it in and simmer 5 minutes.
  8. IF using:   stir in 1/4 c Fish Sauce (see Note-8).
  9. Very gently fold in Fish. Bring to a simmer long enough to reheat it. Adjust liquid with boiling water if needed.
  10. Sprinkle Lime Juice over and take off the heat.
  11. Serve hot with plenty of steamed Jasmine rice. This stew can be reheated if a reasonably firm fish is chosen (tilapia or better).
NOTES:

  1. Fish Fillets:

      Any light colored fish that holds up to wet cooking is fine. Some can be used skin-on. For the photo example I used Tilapia fillets, though for guests I'd use Golden Pompano, probably skin-on. For details see our our Varieties of Fish (very large page).

  2. Red Palm Oil:

      This palm oil is much used in West Africa and Bahia Brazil, and is essential to accurately replicate dishes from those regions. For details and substitute see our Palm Oil / Dendê Oil page.

  3. Yuca:

      A very important vegetable in West Africa, this root can be found in most markets that serve a Latin American or Asian community. For details see our Cassava / Manioc / Yuca page.

  4. Sweet Potatoes:

      Either white sweet potatoes or the orange ones called "Yams" in North America can be used. I prefer the white which are less sweet. For details see our Morning Glory & Yam page.

  5. Cabbage:

      Preferably buy a small cabbage so the wedges aren't too large. The pattern recipe keeps the core to hold the wedges together for serving, but that doesn't work well for buffet, so I cut off the core.

  6. Okra:

      Use the smallest okra pods you can find. The ones in the photo example are a little too large, but smaller were not available at the time.

  7. Dried Clams:

      if you can't find these use small pieces of salted dried fish. For details see our Shellfish Products page.

  8. Flavorings:

      Guedge / Gejj is dried fermented white fish. Yete / Yeet: is fermented flesh of a giant Sea Snail. Both are rather pungent. If you don't have these, do as many Senegalese do and use 2 T Thai / Vietnamese Fish Sauce for a 1 inch piece. Fish Sauce was introduced to Senegal by Vietnamese refugees from the French Indochina war in the early 1950s.

  9. Serving:

      The writer of the pattern recipe is a chef oriented to restaurant presentations. I usually serve buffet style or very simply, thus there are procedural differences between my version and his. He fries whole Snappers rather than fillets and does not cut them. In the end steps he removes the vegetables to serving platters before adding the whole fish back into the sauce to reheat. The fish are then arranged with the vegetables and sauce poured over. Whole bone-in fish doesn't work for me, but his style of serving could also be done with whole fillets.
  10. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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