Tag: West African
Senegalese Fried Fish Balls
Senegalese Fried Fish Balls
Senegalese cuisine has it‘s roots from it’s bordering West African countries as well as North Africa, Lebanon, France, and Portugal. Being on the western coastline, Senegalese eat a lot of fish as part of a dietary staple. Traditionally, emperor sea bream is used for the fish. Most likely you are going to have a hard time finding this fish, so tilapia, swai, cod, catfish, or any other firm white fleshed fish will work. The fish will need to be finely chopped in order to get the right consistency of the balls. You can do this with a sharp chefs knife or pulsed a couple of times in a food processor. Mix all of the ingredients together and let rest for 30 minutes before balling up. I like to use a cookie dropper to make uniform fish balls. Rolls the first ball in flour and fry for 4-5 minutes a side.For making the sauce, sauté onions, green bell peppers, and tomatoes down for 8-10 minutes. Add a cup of water and cayenne pepper(depending on how spicy you want the sauce) and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in the fish balls and simmer covered on low for 15 minutes. Serve the fish balls with steamed rice. Garnish with more chopped parsley.
Ingredients
Fried Fish Balls
- 1 lb white fish fillets (tilapia, swai, cod, catfish) finely chopped
- 4 slices bread ground into breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 jalapeño finely chopped
- 1/4 cup parsley chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup flour
- vegetable oil for frying
Sauce
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 3 roma tomatoes seeded and diced
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix together the minced fish, breadcrumbs, egg, jalapeño, garlic, parsle, green onion, salt, and pepper. Let the mix rest for a half an hour before using.
- Using a cookie dropper, scoop up a heap of the fish mix and roll into a ball.
- Roll each of the fish balls in flour.
- You should yield about 16 fish balls.
- Heat up 1” deep of cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add in the fish balls.
- Fry for 4-5 minutes a side until they are brown and crispy.
- Drain on paper towel.
- Heat up 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Add in the onions, green pepper, and tomatoes. Season with salt. Sauté for 8-10 minutes.
- Add in the water and cayenne pepper. Cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add in the fish balls. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- The sauce will thicken slightly. Add a little more water if you want a thinner sauce.
Chicken Samosas
Chicken Samosas
Samosas are pastries filled with either potatoes, peas, and spices. Instead of the vegetarian variety, the potatoes are replaced with ground chicken in this recipe. Originating from India and East Asia, samosas have made their way into African cuisine from immigration. They are popular all over East, West, and South African countries; each with their own distinct taste. These can be either baked or fried. The samosas can be made in large batches, then frozen down on a baking sheet and stored in gallon sized freezer bags.
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp ginger grated
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 12 oz ground chicken
- 3 tbsp parsley chopped
- 1/2 cup peas
- 1 tsp salt
Dough
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 cup warm water
Instructions
Filling
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger for 3 minutes.
- Add in the spices. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the ground chicken. Break up all of the clumps. Cook for 8 minutes.
- Stir in the peas and parsley. Season with salt. Let cool before filling the samosas.
Dough
- Mix all of the dough ingredients together.
- Need the dough on a floured surface for 3-4 minutes.
- Portion out the dough into 16 equal dough balls.
Assembly Method 1
- On a floured surface, roll out one of the dough balls into a rectangular shape; about the size of an envelope.
- Place a heaping tbsp of the chicken filling in the center of one half of the dough rectangle.
- Fold the bottom right corner up and over the filling to make a triangle.
- Fold the triangle over to the left.
- Fold the bottom left corner up over the triangle and gently seal.
Assembly Method 2
- Roll out each dough ball into a circular shape. Place a heaping tbsp of the chicken filling in the center.
- Make a corner out of the dough circle and fold it up. Shape into a triangular shape and crimp the edges.
- You should yield 16 samosas from this recipe.
Baking Method
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the samosas with oil or butter.
- Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once half way through.
Frying Method
- Heat up 1” of cooking oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add in samosas, making sure to not over crowdthe pot.
- Fry for 4-5 minutes a side.
- Drain grease on a paper towel.
Nigerian Fried Rice
Nigerian Fried Rice
What sets this fried rice apart from others is the use of thyme, curry powder, and liver. You can use beef or chicken livers in this recipe. If you aren’t a liver fan, you can definitely omit and add chicken or more shrimp. If you want this meal to be vegan, you can leave out the protein and use a vegetable stock powder instead of chicken. You can also add in more vegetables as well such as carrots, green beans, mushrooms, or red bell pepper. This rice is typically served as a main course since it is fairly heavy.
Ingredients
- 1 lb raw shrimp peeled and deveined
- 8 oz beef or chicken liver cut into small cubes
- 6 cups cooked basmati rice
- 1 tbsp maggi
- 1/2 medium white onion diced
- 1 cup peas
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 green onion chopped
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the shrimp for 2 minutes a side. Set aside in a large bowl.
- Add 2 more tbsp of cooking oil to the pan. Sauté the liver for 2-3 minutes. Set aside in the large bowl.
- Add 1/2 cup of oil to the sauté pan. Add in the rice. Season with the maggi. Cook for 5 minutes. Set aside in the large bowl.
- Add a 1/4 cup of cooking oil to the sauté pan. Add in the peas, onions, garlic, thyme, curry powder, white pepper, and bouillon. Sauté for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the shrimp, liver, and rice back into the sauté pan. Mix with the sautéed vegetables thoroughly. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Serve a main course.
