Ceebu Jën (Rice and Fish)

Stuffing

2 sweet peppers (or bell peppers), green, yellow, or red, chopped

1 onion (or 2 leeks or 10 scallions), chopped

1 garlic clove, minced (optional)

1 small bunch of parsley (or some similar fresh herb)

1 bay leaf

salt (to taste)

1 chile pepper, chopped (optional)

Fish

1 cup red palm oil, peanut oil, or any cooking oil

2 onions, chopped

1 piece of dried, salted, or smoked fish, such as cod or herring, (stockfish is often used); about half the size of your hand

3 lbs fish: whole, filets, or steaks; cleaned (sea bass, hake, haddock, sea bream, halibut, or any similar firm-fleshed fish)

¾ cup tomato paste

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 ½ lbs Root and Tuber Vegetables: carrots, chopped; sweet cassava (also called manioc, yuca, or yucca) tuber; or potatoes, chopped; yams (or sweet potatoes), chopped

1 hot chile pepper (habanero or serrano) whole, but pricked with a fork

1 ½ lbs Leaf and Fruit Vegetables: cabbage, chopped; sweet peppers (or bell peppers) (green, yellow, or red), whole; squash or zucchini, cleaned and chopped; eggplant (aubergine, or guinea squash), peeled and chopped; okra, with ends removed

4 cups (or more) rice (In Senegal, this dish is often made with broken rice. Short-grained rice can be used, and it can be broken by soaking it in water, draining it, then mashing it with your hands or a blunt object like a rolling pin.)

Prepare the roof (or roff) by combining the stuffing mixture ingredients and grinding them into a paste, adding a little oil or water if needed. Many cooks include what seems to be an essential in Africa: a Maggi cube. Cut deep slits into the fish (but not all the way through) and stuff them with the roof mixture.

Heat the oil in a large pot. Fry the onions and dried, salted, or smoked fish for a few minutes. Then fry the fresh fish for a few minutes on each side. Remove the fish and set aside.

Stir the tomato paste and a cup of water into the oil in the pot. Add the root vegetables and tubers and the hot chile pepper. Add water to partially cover them. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or more.

Add the leaf and fruit vegetables, place the fried fish on top of them, and continue to simmer for an additional twenty minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the fish and all the vegetables and set them aside, keeping them warm. Remove a cup or two of the vegetable broth and set it aside. Add the rice to the vegetable broth. Add water or remove liquid as necessary to obtain two parts liquid to one part rice. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on very low heat until the rice is cooked, about twenty minutes. It should stick a little to the bottom of the pot.

Find the whole hot chile pepper among the vegetables. Combine it to the reserved vegetable broth in a small saucepan and bring to a slow boil. Remove and discard the pepper and put the sauce into a dish or gravy boat.

When the rice is done turn the pot over onto a large serving platter. Scrape the crust (the xooñ) from the bottom of the pot over the rice. Arrange the fish and vegetables over and around the rice. Garnish with parsley and sliced limes (to squeeze over fish) as desired.

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Ceebu Jën (Rice and Fish)