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    Rice · Recipe · Saint-Louis, Senegal · Reference page

    Thieboudienne

    ceebu jën

    Senegal's national dish of fish and rice: stuffed fish fried and then simmered with vegetables in a tomato sauce, and broken rice cooked in the same rich sauce. UNESCO inscribed ceebu jën as intangible cultural heritage in 2021. This recipe for twelve is by Aissatou Ba of Tastes of Senegal, for SBS's Food Safari.

    Thieboudienne with the recipe-allowed jasmine rice, browned fish pieces, cabbage, root vegetables, okra, tomato and pepper on a white platter.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    12
    Preparation
    50 min
    Cooking
    1 h 30
    Total
    2 h 20
    Difficulty
    Involved

    Equipment

    • Food processor or mortar and pestle
    • Large, deep frying pan or wide stew pot
    • Steamer for the rice
    • Slotted spoon; large serving platter
    Servings12

    Ingredients

    • Fish

    • Stuffing

    • Nokkos (seasoning paste)

    • Sauce and vegetables

    • Rice

    • To serve

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Blend the stuffing ingredients to a smooth paste. Cut the fish into thick cutlets, keeping the heads. Make a few deep slits in each piece and push the stuffing in.

    2. Blend the nokkos ingredients to a smooth paste.

    3. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan over high heat and fry the fish in batches, 6–7 minutes a side. Set aside.

      Timer · 13 min13:00

    4. Fry three-quarters of the nokkos in the same oil for 5 minutes. Add the sea snail if using, the tomato paste and 250 ml water; cover and simmer 10 minutes.

      Timer · 15 min15:00

    5. Add 1.5–2 litres water with the carrots, sweet potatoes, cassava, eggplant, cabbage and bay leaves. Simmer for 20 minutes, until just tender.

      Timer · 20 min20:00

    6. Meanwhile wash the rice three times, drain well and steam it for 10–15 minutes until half cooked.

      Why Half-steaming first lets the rice finish in the sauce without breaking down.

      Timer · 15 min15:00

    7. Return the fried fish and the heads to the pot with the okra and whole chillies. Cover and simmer 15 minutes more. Lift out the fish and vegetables with a slotted spoon.

      Timer · 15 min15:00

    8. Stir the tamarind into 1 cup of the sauce in a small bowl. Pour another cup of sauce over the fish.

    9. Mix the rest of the nokkos into the sauce in the pot. Season generously with salt and add the fish sauce: it should taste a little saltier than you think.

      Why The rice absorbs the sauce and its salt; a sauce seasoned only to taste makes bland rice.

    10. Gently stir in the steamed rice and cook over low heat for 10–15 minutes until just cooked.

      Timer · 15 min15:00

    11. Tip the rice onto a large platter, arrange the vegetables and fish on top, drizzle with the tamarind sauce and garnish with tomato and capsicum.

    Substitutions

    • Thiof → Any lean, firm white fish listed by the source: barramundi, grouper, sea bream, bass, hake, tilapia or snapper.
    • Netetou → Leave it out, or use a small piece of fermented fish or a little more fish sauce (editorial).
    • Broken rice → Jasmine rice, as the source allows.

    Common mistakes

    • Under-salting the sauce before the rice goes in.
    • Stirring hard once the rice is in: the grains break and turn mushy.
    • Overcooking the vegetables: lift them out as soon as they are tender and keep them warm.

    Storage & reheating

    Cool within an hour (rice) and refrigerate fish and rice; eat within a day and reheat once, until steaming hot (UK FSA).

    Safety

    Contains fish (fish, fish sauce) and molluscs if sea snail is used. Stock cubes often contain celery: check the label. Habanero chillies are very hot; wash hands after handling. Hot oil: fry in batches and never leave the pan.

    Allergens

    Fish · Molluscs · Celery

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    dairy-free

    Rice and fish from Saint-Louis

    Ceebu jën means "rice and fish" in Wolof. UNESCO inscribed "Ceebu jën, a culinary art of Senegal" on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. The inscription says the dish originated in the fishing communities of the island of Saint-Louis and is typically made with fish steaks, broken rice, dried fish, molluscs and seasonal vegetables. The recipe is passed from mother to daughter, and in most families it is eaten with the hands from a shared bowl, held with the left hand, with no raised knee and no grain of rice dropped.

    Aissatou Ba, who runs Tastes of Senegal in Melbourne, told Food Safari that it is eaten at least once a week and is a must at every celebration.

    [1][2]

    Everything cooks in the same sauce

    The fish is stuffed with a green paste of parsley, garlic, chilli and capsicum, then fried. The same oil fries the nokkos, a red seasoning paste of onion, garlic and capsicum with fermented locust bean, before tomato paste and water make the sauce. The vegetables simmer in it, then the fish returns. The rice is steamed until half done and finished in the seasoned sauce, so it takes on its colour and flavour. Tamarind sauce, sharp and dark, is spooned over at the end.

    [2]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin Saint-Louis, Senegal In preparation

    Recipe

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