Dry Rice and Fish Recipe

Origin: Liberia      Period: Traditional

This is another classic West African dish that incorporates herb-flavoured deep-fried fish with a hot chilli ('hot pepper' in West African parlance) sauce and rice. This recipe is based upon one that my wife regularly makes.

Ingredients

2 firm white fish (eg black bream, tilapia) head removed and cut into 6 cm steaks
4 perch (or small tilapia, cleaned and gutted)
5 scotch bonnet chillies
200ml fish stock (or fish stock cube in 200ml water)
2 fish stock cube
2 tsp salt
10 okra, topped
3 bitter tomatoes, sliced (substitute green tomatoes and 2 small aubergines if not available)
15 Habanero chillies
2 tbsp black peppercorns
4 cloves garlic
4 tbsp curly-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
25 leaves Thai sweet basil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 pods smoked Sénégal pepper pounded to a paste in a pestle and mortar
1 6cm stick Njangsa (or 2 tbsp dried seeds, pounded in pestle and mortar)
1 kg Thai Jasmine or Basmati rice
4 tbsp red palm oil

Dry Rice and Fish Preparation:

Method:

Place the okra, bitter tomatoes and chillies in a pan, add 2l water and 1 fish stock cube. Bring to the boil, cover and cook on high heat for 40 minutes. Add the peppercorns and garlic to a pestle and mortar, along with the parsley and pound to a paste. Add the Thai basil and pound again. Add a little salt to this and a fish stock cube then pound to a paste again.

Score the sides of all the fish pieces deeply (to the bone) at least twice. Place the fish in a bowl and add 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ground black pepper and the Sénégal pepper and rub the spices into the fish. Remove the fish pieces from this one at a time and pack the basil and parsley paste into the scores in the fish's sides and the body cavities (make sure to work-in well). Set aside for the next step.

Once cooked, remove the chillies, okra and bitter tomatoes from the cooking broth. Place in a pestle and mortar and pound to a paste then add the habanero chillies and pound these to a paste as well. Wash the rice and add to the liquid in which the chillies were cooking. Bring to the boil, cover and boil for about 30 minutes until the rice is almost dry then add the stick of Njangsa and 400ml water. Cover and allow to steam for five minutes then add the Njangsa stick (or the dry njangsa) to the chilli paste and pound in. Transfer this paste to a bowl and serve as a sauce (it will keep in the fridge for a week)

Once the rice is done, set aside and prepare to deep-fry the fish. Place oil in a pan and heat until very hot. Then add the fish and deep fry for about 5 minutes each, turning once.

Serve the fish on a bed of rice (drizzle red palm oil over the top if you wish) and accompanied by the hot pepper sauce.

Read: Recipe Articles and Reviews

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