Ceebu Jën

Description
In Senegal, this dish is often made with broken rice. Short-grained rice can be used, and it can be broken by soaking it in water, draining it, then mashing it with your hands or a blunt object like the end of a bottle.

Ingredients

 * 1 piece of dried, salted, or smoked fish, such as cod * or herring, (stockfish is often used); the piece should be about half the size of your hand
 * two to three pounds of fish: whole, fillets, or steaks; cleaned (seabass, hake, haddock, sea bream, halibut, or any similar firm-fleshed fish)
 * tomato paste
 * 3 or 4 tomatoes (peeled if desired), whole
 * 1 or more of the following root vegetables and tubers:
 * carrots, chopped
 * sweet cassava (also called manioc, yuca, or yucca) tuber; or potatoes, chopped
 * yams (sweet potatoes are not the same, but may be substituted), chopped
 * hot chile pepper, such as habanero or serrano chile, whole, but pricked with a fork
 * one or more of the following leaf and fruit vegetables:
 * cabbage, chopped
 * 1 or 2 sweet peppers (or bell peppers) (green, yellow, or red); left whole
 * 1 squash (any kind will do) or zucchini, cleaned and chopped
 * eggplant (aubergine, or guinea squash), peeled and chopped
 * okra, whole, but with ends removed
 * several cups of rice

Stuffing mixture ("roof" or "roff")

 * 1 or 2 sweet peppers (or bell peppers) (green, yellow, or red); chopped
 * 1 onion or two leeks or several scallions, chopped
 * garlic, minced (optional)
 * a small bunch of parsley or a bay leaf (or some similar fresh herb)
 * salt
 * hot chile pepper, cleaned and chopped (optional)
 * 1 cup peanut oil, or for an authentic red color: red palm oil
 * 2 onions, chopped

Directions

 * 1) Prepare the roof (or roff) by combining the stuffing mixture ingredients and grinding them into a paste, adding a little oil or water if needed. Many cooks include what seems to be an essential in Africa: a Maggi cube.
 * 2) Cut deep slits into the fish (but not all the way through) and stuff them with the roof mixture.
 * 3) Heat the oil in a large pot.
 * 4) Fry the onions and dried/salted/smoked fish for a few minutes.
 * 5) Then fry the fresh fish for a few minutes on each side.
 * 6) Remove the fish and set aside.
 * 7) Stir the tomato paste and a cup of water into the oil in the pot.
 * 8) Add the root vegetables and tubers and the hot chile pepper.
 * 9) Add water to partially cover them.
 * 10) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or more.
 * 11) Add the leaf and fruit vegetables, place the fried fish on top of them, and continue to simmer for an additional twenty minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
 * 12) The fish and all the vegetables and set them aside, keeping them warm.
 * 13) Remove a cup or two of the vegetable broth and set it aside.
 * 14) Add the rice to the vegetable broth.
 * 15) Add water or remove liquid as necessary to obtain two parts liquid to one part rice.
 * 16) Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on very low heat until the rice is cooked—about twenty minutes. It should stick a little to the bottom of the pot.
 * 17) Find the hot chile among the vegetables.
 * 18) Combine it to the reserved vegetable broth in a small saucepan and bring to a slow boil.
 * 19) Remove and discard the pepper and put the sauce into a dish or gravy boat.
 * 20) When the rice is done turn the pot over onto a large serving platter.
 * 21) Scrape the crust (the xooñ) from the bottom of the pot over the rice.
 * 22) Arrange the fish and vegetables over and around the rice.
 * 23) Garnish with parsley and sliced limes (to squeeze over fish) as desired.
 * 24) Serve Jus de Bissap with your meal, and green tea with mint afterwards.