Thiéré bassi salté – Senegalese couscous with millet
Thiéré bassi salté is a Senegalese couscous with millet, served with a simmered sauce of meat, chicken, vegetables, chickpeas, white beans, raisins and lalo, a powder of baobab leaves that binds the couscous grains.
Pour: 4 personnes
Ingredients
**Ingredients – for the millet couscous**
- * 250 g millet couscous
- * 100 g minced meat
- * 50 g cooked white beans
- * 50 g cooked chickpeas
- * 20 g raisins
- * 10 g of lalo
- * 12 cl of water
**Ingredients – for the sauce**
- * 300 g beef
- * 2 chicken thighs
- * 5 cl of vegetable oil
- * 1 medium onion, grated
- * 1 small green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
- * 100 g tomato paste
- * 10 cl grated tomatoes
- * 1 piece of squash cut into large chunks
- * 4 pieces of cassava
- * 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 4
- * 1 turnip, peeled and cut into 4
- * 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into pieces
- * 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- * 1 red chilli pepper
- * 1/2 bunch of spring onions
- * Salt
- * Pepper
Préparation
- Marinate the beef and chicken for 30 minutes with 3 crushed garlic cloves, salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a large stockpot, then brown the marinated pieces of meat and chicken.
- Dissolve the tomato paste in a little water, then pour it into the pot.
- Add the squash, cassava, carrot, turnip, and sweet potato. Cover with water.
- Blend the onion, spring onions, remaining 3 garlic cloves, pepper, chilli, salt and pepper until you have an aromatic paste.
- Add this paste to the sauce, then stir in the grated tomato.
- Simmer for about 1 hour, until the meats and vegetables are cooked.
- Remove the meats and vegetables, then reduce the sauce over low heat, until it is concentrated and fragrant.
- Meanwhile, place the millet couscous in a large bowl, sprinkle it with boiling water, sand the grains, then let it absorb.
- Steam the millet couscous in a couscous maker for 20 minutes.
- Dissolve the lalo in 12 cl of water and beat until you get a thick white mixture.
- Stir the lalo into the couscous, mix well, then steam for another 20 minutes.
- Form the minced meat into small balls and cook them in a little hot oil.
- Add the chickpeas, white beans, raisins and meatballs to the millet couscous.
- Moisten the couscous with a ladle of sauce, mix gently, then serve with the meats, vegetables and the rest of the sauce.
Notes
Lalo is a baobab leaf powder used as a binder in Senegalese couscous. If you can't find any, you can make the recipe without, but the texture will be less typical.
The sauce should be well reduced before being mixed with the couscous. If it is too liquid, it will soak the millet grains.
For a quicker version, prepare the sauce the day before and reheat it when cooking the millet couscous.
