Description
Thiebou yapp is Senegal’s second national dish, featuring lamb marinated in a garlic herb paste, simmered with vegetables, and served over flavorful broken rice.
Ingredients
Scale
- For the nokoss (Senegalese spice paste):
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 3 scallions, roughly chopped
- 1–2 habanero or scotch bonnet peppers
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- For the lamb and broth:
- 2 lbs (900g) bone-in lamb shoulder
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 2 bouillon cubes (Maggi), crumbled
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups (960ml) water
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil
- Salt to taste
- For the vegetables:
- 2 medium carrots, cut into large chunks
- ¼ small cabbage, cut into 2 large wedges
- 1 small eggplant, halved or quartered
- 1 medium potato, halved
- For the rice:
- 2 cups (400g) broken rice or short-grain rice
- Reserved lamb broth
- For garnish:
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, halved
- Green olives
- Fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Make the nokoss. Blend garlic, half the onion, green bell pepper, scallions, habanero, black pepper and salt into a rough paste. Reserve 3 tablespoons for the marinade and keep the rest for cooking.
- Marinate and brown the lamb. Rub the lamb chunks with 3 tablespoons of nokoss. Leave for at least 20 minutes. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Brown the lamb deeply on all sides for 8–10 minutes in batches. Remove and set aside.
- Build the sauce base. In the same pot, add the remaining chopped onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add the remaining nokoss paste and stir for 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook for 3–4 minutes until it darkens. Add chopped tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves and crumbled bouillon. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
- Simmer the lamb. Return the browned lamb to the pot. Pour in 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, skim foam, reduce to a steady simmer, cover and cook for 45–55 minutes until tender. Add carrots, cabbage, eggplant and potato. Simmer 20 minutes until vegetables are just tender.
- Cook the rice in the broth. Measure the broth for 3 cups for 2 cups of rice. Return broth to a boil. Rinse rice and add directly to boiling broth. Stir and cover tightly, cooking for 20–25 minutes until broth is absorbed.
- Assemble and serve. Mound rice on a large platter. Arrange lamb pieces and vegetables over rice. Garnish with hard-boiled eggs, green olives and parsley. Serve communally.
Notes
The lamb broth and cooked meat can be made a day ahead. A spicy habanero dipping sauce is a traditional accompaniment.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 90 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Simmering
- Cuisine: Senegalese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 600
- Sugar: 6g
- Sodium: 800mg
- Fat: 30g
- Saturated Fat: 10g
- Unsaturated Fat: 15g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 45g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 40g
- Cholesterol: 120mg