MBakhal aux Arachides (MBakhal with Peanuts)

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MBakhal aux Arachides (MBakhal with Peanuts)

MBakhal aux Arachides (MBakhal with Peanuts) is a traditional Senegalese recipe for a classic one-pot dish of rice with vegetables and fish where the sauce is thickened with ground peanuts and the dish is served with ghee. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Senegalese version of: MBakhal with Peanuts (MBakhal aux Arachides).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

80 minutes

Total Time:

100 minutes

Serves:

6–8

Rating:

Tags : Chilli Recipes Vegetable Recipes Senegal Recipes

This is a classic variant of traditional Mbakhal (a one-pot dish of rice with fish in a tomato, onion and hot chilli base) and is a traditional dish of Lebu, Senegal.

Ingredients:

250g raw peanuts, ground and sifted to a flour
1kg rice, washed and dried
125g nététou (this is fermented dawadawa or locust bean paste also known as iru) — in Senegal it's sold as sausage-shaped pastes
1 large onion, chopped
2 hot chillies
1 thiof head (thiof, also known as capitaine is the White grouper and is beloved of Senegalese cooks) or 600g fresh fish pieces
1 piece of dried and smoked fish
100g ghee (clarified butter)
salt, to taste
lemon juice, to taste

Method:

Combine the thiof head and dried fish in a large pot. Cover with water and season with salt. Bring to a boil.

Pound 25g of the nététou in a mortar with the onion and 1 chilli. Stir this paste into the fish mixture and cook for about 40 minutes or until the fish is tender. Remove the fish from the pot and set aside to keep warm.

Stir the rice into the liquid remaining in the pot, then pour in enough water so that the rice is covered by a depth of 3cm.

Crush the remaining nététou with the remaining chilli in a mortar. Season with salt then form the mixture into a ball. Press this gently into the centre of the rice.

Sprinkle over the peanut flour then cover the pan and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Remove the nététou ball and set aside. Sit the fish on top of the rice, cover and steam for about 5 minutes or until heated through.

Remove the fish then spoon the rice mixture onto a serving tray. Sprinkle over a little lemon juice, set the fish on top and serve accompanied by ghee or clarified butter (warm this) and the nététou ball as a condiment.