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Thiéré Bassi Salté- This dish could be reminiscent of couscous, with the big difference that it is prepared from thiakry, millet “couscous”, the ancestral cereal, used long before the arrival of wheat or corn.
This dish consists of meatballs, usually made of mutton, and some other nice ingredients to make this delicious meal a treat.
What is Bassi Salte?
Bassi salté is a traditional Senegalese dish consisting of millet couscous that is combined with meat and vegetables.
This authentic dish typically contains cooked millet couscous, mutton meatballs known as diaguas, chunks of meat (usually mutton or chicken), sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, cassava roots, carrots, white beans, cabbage, and tomato paste.
Besides being savory, the dish is also characterized by a mild sweetness as it includes sweet ingredients such as raisins and dates.
This dish is traditionally eaten by Muslims in the country on the occasion of Achoura, a religious festival called Tamkharit in Senegal.
Bassi Salté Recipe
Being naturally gluten-free, it is prepared with lalo, a baobab product that serves as a binder for the semolina.
For the sauce, there are different variations, including fish, meat, or cabbage, with vegetables as varied as cassava, peppers, carrots, or sweet potato.
To enhance the taste, sugar ingredients like dates are added. The delicacy is one of the most valued dishes in Senegal that requires some skills to prepare. Without combining the ingredients properly, you may miss the real authentic Bassi Salte flavor.
It is usually served with the millet couscous and beans mixture on the bottom, topped with meat and vegetable chunks, all generously drizzled with a thick sauce.
Be Sure to Try These Other Senegal Dishes!
Be sure to recreate this incredible delicacy. Enjoy!
Thiéré bassi salté – Senegalese couscous with thiakry
Ingredients
For the tea bomb sauce
- 250 g millet couscous
- 100 g minced meat
- 50 g cooked white beans
- 50 g cooked chickpeas
- 20 g raisins
- 10 g of lalo baobab-based binder and 12 cl of water
For the sauce
- 300 g of beef
- 2 chicken thighs
- 5 cl vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion grated
- 1 small green bell pepper coarsely chopped
- 100 g of tomato puree
- 10 cl of grated tomatoes
- 1 squash cut into large chunks
- 4 pieces of cassava
- 1 carrot peeled and cut in 4
- 1 turnip peeled and cut in 4
- 1 sweet potato peeled and cut into chunks
- 6 crushed garlic cloves
- 1 red pepper
- ½ bunch spring onion
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Marinate the meat and the chicken for 30 minutes with 3 cloves of garlic, pepper and salt.
- In a hot oiled pot, brown the marinated meat and chicken.
- Dissolve the tomato puree in water and pour into the pot. Add squash, cassava, carrot, turnip, sweet potato and cover with water.
- Mix the onion, the new onion, the remaining 3 cloves of garlic, the bell pepper, the chilli, salt and pepper until you obtain a homogeneous paste. Add to sauce. Then add the grated tomato. Simmer for about an hour, or until the meats and vegetables are cooked.
- Once cooked, remove the meats and vegetables and let the sauce reduce over low heat for 3 hours.
- In a large salad bowl, arrange the millet couscous and sprinkle with boiling water. Sand then set aside until the couscous absorbs all the water. Steam using a couscoussier for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, dissolve the lalo in 12 cl of water and beat until you obtain a white and thick preparation. Add to couscous and mix well. Leave to steam for another 20 minutes.
- Prepare small meatballs minced. Cook in hot oil and set aside.
- Add the chickpeas, white beans, raisins and ground meatballs to the couscous. Wet the couscous with a ladle of the meat and vegetable sauce and mix well.