Chicken Yassa

This is a traditional Senegalese dish, that has become popular throughout West Africa. Although, it can be tweaked to suit your palete. This is my own version. Enjoy. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

1lb Chicken thighs

Half cup groundnut oil.

10 large Onions

3 lemons

1 Cameroon pepper

2 Scotch Bonnet peppers or Cameroon Pepper

2 tablespoon Dijon Mustard (Optional)

3 Bouillon Cubes

2 cloves of garlic

Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Slice Onions thinly and set aside. Pound peppers and set aside. Squeeze out the juice of lemons in a bowl. Pound the garlic and mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

2. Half the chicken thighs and wash thoroughly. Then transfer to the bowl with the onion marinade. Toss chicken until its well covered with the onion slices and juices.  Leave to marinade in a fridge for at least 4 hours or best left overnight.

3. Heat groundnut oil in a pan over medium heat. Bring out chicken from marinade and pat dry with clean cloth. Then sauté chicken parts in hot pan until all the sides are brown. Then transfer unto a colander.

4. In the same pan, sauté onions until translucent and almost wilted.  Then add chicken, seasoning and remaining marinade and allow cooking on a low heat for 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked and almost falling off the bone.

5. Serve on a bed of rice or boiled potatoes. It also goes well with vegetables. Garnish with chopped cashew nuts or chopped parsley.

Chilli beans

(African version of Chilli Con Carne)

Serves 4

Ingredients

 500 grams of freshly ground beef. (Beef can be substituted for ground goat meat)

8 red tomatoes

1 red bell pepper or Tatashe

1 Cameroon pepper

2 medium sized red onions

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbs of tomato paste

3 Bouillon cubes

2 cups of cooked black eyed beans.

1 cup of bleached palm oil or vegetable oil

Salt to taste.

Preparation

Chop garlic and onions and set aside. Blend tomatoes roughly, peppers and Cameroon pepper and set aside. Heat oil in a shallow pan until its hot. Sautee garlic and onions for 5 minutes until translucent and almost turning brown, then add ground beef (do not put any water at this stage as the meat with release some liquid). Add 2 bouillon cubes and let the beef cook for 10 minutes until it’s a light brown in colour. Then the blended tomatoes/pepper, tomato paste and some water (depending on how light or thick you want it to loosen the thickness and let simmer on a low heat for another 15 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked through. Add the cups of cooked (but firm) black eye beans to the stew and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve with Coconut Rice. Garnish with roughly chopped parsley.