Learn to cook an authentic West African meal alongside an executive chef from home
This month’s meal: Thiebou djeun - A Senegalese-style fried rice made with fish
Join us for an interactive virtual cook-a-long event, led by executive chef Awa Sibi, owner of Les Délices de Awa, a new West African caterer in Madison, and volunteers from Feeding Mouths, Filling Minds. This is a family-friendly event and children are welcome to join in!
During this live event, you will get step-by-step cooking tips, and can ask all the questions you want. Along the way, we’ll learn a bit about foods and cooking in West Africa, and hear updates on what FMFM is doing to help villages gain sustainable access to food for their schoolchildren. All proceeds will go to FMFM’s food programs benefitting children in West Africa.
Here’s how it works:
Register for the event on Zoom. You will receive a reminder notification with sign-in instructions 2 days prior and 1 hour prior to the event.
Go shopping for your ingredients (listed below) before the event. Download the full recipe here.
Conduct your food prep (see recipe) the night before or day-of the event. (This is optional, but will make following along with us much easier.)
On the day of the event, line up your ingredients and ensure you have space to cook. At 6:00 pm CT, sign in using the link and password that was emailed to you.
You, the chef, and other participants will cook the entire meal from scratch live during a 60-minute session. Our chef and host will be on camera. We may turn the camera to some participants who volunteer to show us how your meal is coming along throughout the night! There will be a live chat function so you can ask questions (or heckle us as we cook). You learn, you taste, you serve and you eat!
You make a donation to FMFM via our PayPal page here. (Suggested donation: $20.) Proceeds will directly go toward our sustainable food programs benefitting children in East and West Africa.
What we’re making:
We're making Thieboudienne, (pronounced ‘cheb-oo-jen’) - the National dish of Senegal. It is comprised of stewed broken jasmine rice and vegetables served with marinated fish. (Sometimes it is also be made with lamb or chicken and a sour leaves sauce.) Our team previewed this dish last month and RAVED about the flavor - saying that this is one that the kids will love, too! It’s also way less complex than it looks. Don't miss this mouthwatering dish!
Your shopping list:
(4-6) 6-8oz steaks of grass root carp - with skin on. (Other acceptable substitutes: salmon steaks, tuna steaks, swordfish steaks (preferable steak-fish)
1 green bell pepper
2 large beefsteak tomatoes or 3 roma tomatoes
1 full bunch of green onions
3 large yellow onion
1 large bulb of garlic or a heaping cup of garlic cloves
2 tbsp Peppercorns (preferred) or 3 tbsp ground pepper
1 head of green cabbage
4 small Japanese eggplant or 1 large eggplant quartered
4 carrots peeled and quartered
5 cups of dry broken rice aka Cơm tấm
10 cubes chicken or veg Bouillon or Maggi or “Better than Bouillon” (4 Bouillon cubes 1 tablespoon of the “Better than Bouillon”)
1 tbsp salt (may add more to taste)
1 cup vegetable oil (Canola, avocado, or grapeseed oil)
1 16oz can of tomato paste
For Vegetarians: Omit the fish and chicken bouillon. In its place, substitute: Veggie bouillon and the remaining half of cabbage