Thiébou Yapp
Overview
Thiébou yapp is the meat version of Senegal's defining rice dish. Where thieboudienne uses fish, thiébou yapp uses beef or lamb, and the Wolof name says so directly: thiébou for rice, yapp for meat, in the same construction that gives thiébou jen its name from jen, fish. The method is the same in structure. Meat is marinated, browned, and simmered in a seasoned broth; the rice then goes into that broth and takes all of it up. What holds the dish together is nokoss, the Senegalese seasoning base of onion, parsley, garlic, chilli and bell pepper pounded together, which is used as a marinade for the meat and stirred back into the broth in stages. It is a weekday dish in a way thieboudienne is not. Thieboudienne is what opens a significant family lunch and requires a whole stuffed fish and a full braise of vegetables; thiébou yapp is quicker, cheaper and more forgiving, and it is what appears when the household is not marking an occasion. It is served on a large communal platter, dressed at the table with an onion and vegetable sauce, sliced tomato and hard cooked egg.
AFN Heritage Note
Thiébou yapp is documented as the meat preparation within the Senegalese thiébou family, from the Wolof thiéb for rice and yapp for meat, alongside thiébou jen made with fish. UNESCO inscribed ceebu jen, the fish preparation, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Make the nokoss. Crush half an onion with the parsley, garlic, chilli and bell pepper. Add the ground black pepper, ground dried shrimp, seven spice blend and salt.
- 2
Marinate the meat with some of the nokoss and reserve the rest.
- 3
Fry the chicken on both sides until golden brown, then set aside.
- 4
Reduce the oil, then add the marinated beef with a little onion and a little nokoss. Stir well and leave to fry.
- 5
Once the onion has caramelised slightly, add about 2 litres of water, a little more nokoss, the peppers, spices and bay leaf, and salt. Return the chicken and simmer for about twenty minutes.
- 6
Once the chicken is cooked through, set it aside.
- 7
Adjust the broth for seasoning, add the rice and cook.
- 8
Once the rice is almost done, place the chicken on top so it stays hot.
- 9
Cover with cling film, put the lid on and reduce the heat to a minimum.
- 10
Meanwhile make the onion and vegetable sauce. In a frying pan, heat a little oil, add the diced onions and peppers and the rest of the nokoss, and season.
- 11
Add the mixed vegetables and olives and simmer over low heat.
- 12
Serve the rice first on a large platter.
- 13
Add the chicken and the onion and vegetable sauce over the top.
Africook’s Notes
- Nokoss is the whole flavour base and it is worth making properly. Pound it rather than blending it if you can, since a coarser texture holds up better through the long cook.
- Hold back some nokoss for the sauce at the end. It is added in three stages, and using it all in the marinade leaves the finished dish flat.
- Broken rice is the correct grain and takes up the broth far more completely than whole grain. Look for brisures de riz at West African grocers.
- Do not let it dry out. The rice should finish having absorbed the broth but the pot should not be dry, and covering it with cling film under the lid at the end is the standard way of holding the steam.
- Sliced tomato and hard boiled egg are the usual garnishes alongside the vegetable sauce.
Reviews
5 reviews
Couldn't find ground dried shrimp easily here in Dubai so I had to check the Asian supermarket in Deira for it. Missing home cooking so much and this nyama and rice combination was so comforting! The broken rice took less time to absorb the stock than I thought, turned out sawa.
Finding dried shrimp is a proper mission! Here in PE, I buy ground dried prawns from the spice shop past the second robot on Cape Road. Adding 15g of that to 500g beef chuck with 2 cups of Spekko broken rice makes it so lekker and comforting.
the ground dried shrimp in the nokoss gives it that deep flavour paa. my senegalese friend in Takoradi used to make this for us on weekends. fried the mutton together with the chicken though instead of doing it separate, but the broken rice soaked up all that seasoned stock nicely oo.
Herh the nokoss smells so good when you crush the parsley and green pepper together! used fresh mutton from the butcher here in Tamale. only thing is 2 litres of water was a bit too much for my broken rice, it became a bit soft oo. next time i will reduce the liquid slightly.
Baie lekker man. Didn't have broken rice so just smashed up normal white rice in a bag before cooking. That nokoss paste with the ground shrimp and seven spice gave the meat incredible flavor, browned the chicken in my potjie pot over the coals and it was top class.