Kedjenou (Ivorian Sealed-Pot Chicken)
Aperçu
Kedjenou is chicken and vegetables sealed in a pot and cooked slowly with almost no added liquid, so the bird cooks in its own juices. It is Ivorian, and the source associates it particularly with the Baoulé. The method is the entire dish and it is genuinely unusual. Traditionally it is cooked in a canari, an earthenware jar with a narrow opening, which is sealed and set over a wood fire or coals. Because so little liquid goes in and almost none escapes, everything the chicken releases stays in the pot and concentrates. The result is intensely flavoured rather than diluted, the opposite of a stew, where liquid goes in and draws flavour outward. The name reflects the technique too. Kedjenou is generally understood to refer to shaking, the pot is shaken periodically rather than opened and stirred, because lifting the lid would let the steam out. This recipe reproduces that with foil under a tight lid in a low oven, and it works. Eggplant, tomato, onion, chilli, ginger and thyme are the standard vegetables. Guinea fowl is as traditional as chicken and arguably more so. The source's ingredient list gives almost no quantities and splits garlic across two lines. Working amounts are given below.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Kedjenou is an Ivorian dish of chicken or guinea fowl slow-cooked with vegetables in a sealed earthenware pot called a canari, set over a fire, with little or no added liquid. It is associated with the Baoulé people of Ivory Coast.
Ingrédients
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Préparation
- 1
Set the oven to 325°F / 160°C.
- 2
Put all the ingredients into a large ovenproof pot with a tight-fitting lid.
- 3
Cover the pot with one or two layers of foil and set the lid on top of the foil. The seal is the whole point, very little liquid goes in and none should escape.
- 4
Put the pot in the oven and cook for 2 to 3 hours.
- 5
Take the pot out from time to time and shake it, keeping the lid on, so the chicken does not stick. Do not open it and stir, that would let the steam out.
- 6
Take the pot out of the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
- 7
Serve hot with attiéké, couscous, rice or boiled yam.
Notes de l’Africook
- Seal it properly. Foil under the lid is what turns this from a casserole into kedjenou.
- Shake, do not stir. Opening the pot releases the steam that is doing the cooking.
- Add no water. The chicken and vegetables release enough, and any you add dilutes the concentration that makes the dish.
- Guinea fowl is as traditional as chicken and gives a slightly gamier result. Adjust the timing since it is a smaller, leaner bird.
- Bone-in pieces are much better than boneless. The bones give the concentrated juices their body.
- Attiéké, fermented cassava couscous, is the classic Ivorian accompaniment and has its own page on this site.
Questions fréquentes
What is a canari?
A traditional West African earthenware jar with a narrow opening, used across Ivory Coast for slow cooking. For kedjenou the pot is filled, sealed and set over a wood fire or coals, and the narrow neck and clay walls together trap the steam and hold a very even heat. A heavy casserole with foil under the lid, in a low oven, is the practical domestic substitute and produces a similar result.
Why is there no liquid in the recipe?
Because the chicken and vegetables provide it. Sealed in a pot, everything they release stays inside and concentrates rather than escaping as steam, which is exactly the opposite of how a normal stew works. Adding water dilutes precisely the thing the technique exists to create. The finished dish has a sauce, but it is a sauce made entirely from what was in the pot to begin with.
Why shake the pot instead of stirring it?
Because opening the lid releases the trapped steam, and the trapped steam is doing the cooking. Shaking the sealed pot moves the contents enough to stop the chicken catching on the base without breaking the seal. The name kedjenou is generally understood to refer to this shaking, which is a good indication of how central it is to the method rather than being an incidental detail.
What is it served with?
Attiéké most classically, the fermented cassava couscous that is an Ivorian staple and has its own recipe on this site. Rice, couscous and boiled yam all work equally well. Whatever the accompaniment, its job is to soak up the concentrated juices, which is the best part of the dish and should not be left in the pot.
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