Ceebu Jën
(Rice and Fish) Recipe

Origin: Senegal      Period: Traditional

This Ceebu Jën (also spelled Tiébou Dienn or cheb-oo-jen and pronounced 'Chubby Jen') is a classic Senegalese dish that begins with fish stuffed with herbs and onions. This is very similar to West African Dry Rice and Fish originating in Liberia/Sierra Leone. The stuffing for the fish itself is called roof (or roff).

Ingredients:

2 green bell peppers, de-seeded and chopped
2 leeks, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
salt
1 hot chilli pepper, finely chopped
250ml groundnut oil
2 onions, chopped
1 piece salted, dried or smoked fish such as stockfish
1.2kg white fish fillets (eg hake, sea bass, haddock, sea bream, grouper etc) cleaned and kept whole
tomato paste
4 ripe tomatoes, whole
2 carrots, chopped
2 red bell peppers, whole
1 squash or courgette, peeled and chopped
10 okra with ends removed
550g short-grained rice

Ceebu Jën
(Rice and Fish) Preparation:

Method:

First prepare the roof by combining together the green bell peppers, leeks, garlic, parsley, salt and chilli and grinding to a paste (add a little oil if too stiff). It's traditional to add a Maggi cube at this stage and you can add a fish bouillon cube along with a few pinches of cumin and coriander to get the same flavour. Cut deep slits in the fish and stuff with the roof mixture.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onions and dried/salted/smoked fish in this for a few minutes. Now add the fresh fish and fry for a few minutes on each side. Remove the fish and set aside then add the tomato paste and 240ml water to the pan. Add the root vegetables along with the chilli. Pour in sufficient water to just cover and simmer for about 35 minutes. Now add the bell peppers, courgette and okra. place the fish on top and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the fish and all the vegetables and place in an oven to keep warm. Reserve about 400ml of the cooking liquid and adjust the volume of the remaining liquid so that it comes to just over 1l. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat until the rice is done (about 25 minutes). Don't worry if the rice sticks a little on the bottom of the pot. This is normal.

Add the reserved cooking broth to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Allow the sauce to thicken a little then pour into a sauce boat.

When the rice is done, spoon onto a large serving plate and scrape the crust on the bottom of the pan over the rice (this is called xooñ in Wolof). Arrange the fish and vegetables over the rice and garnish with parsley and sliced limes. Serve with the sauce.

Serve with Jus de Bissap.

The last time I had this dish was in a hairdressers in Dakar, whilst my wife was having her hair done.

Read: Recipe Articles and Reviews

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