Smoked Fish from The Congo

Ceebu Jën (rice and smoked fish), recipe below

Here is an account of smoked fish by Harry Hamilton Johnston a British explorer who visited the Congo river region just at the start of the European scramble to colonize Africa following the Berlin Conference of 1884. He writes, “One tribe on the Upper Congo makes quite a traffic in smoked fish, which they sell to the resident tribes. . . It is a most common sight to see a group of these Ba-yansi people established temporarily on a great sandbank in the middle of the river, smoking the newly-caught fish over immense wood fires.” Johnston goes on to say, “I have often bought and eaten these smoked fish. . . they are delicious—yes, emphatically delicious.” Below is smoked fish recipe from the same region

Ceebu Jën (rice and smoked fish) recipe

Ingredients
Stuffing mixture (roof or roff):
2 chopped green, yellow, or red sweet peppers
1 chopped scallion or onion
1 minced garlic
1/3 cup of fresh parsley, bay leaf, or cilantro
Salt to taste
Hot chili peppers to taste

Sauce and vegetables
1 cup red palm oil (substitute a vegetable oil)
2 chopped onions
Medium sized piece of dried smoked fish, such as cod or herring
3 pounds of whole cleaned sea bass, haddock, or halibut fish steak
1 can of tomato paste
4 whole tomatoes
1 or more chopped carrots, cassava, potatoes, or yams
1 hot chili pepper
Add a bit of fruit vegetables such as chopped cabbage, squash, eggplant, zucchini, and okra with the ends removed
2 cups or more of brown rice

Method
Prepare the roof (or roff) by combining the stuffing mixture ingredients and grinding them into a paste, adding a little oil or water if needed. Many cooks include what seems to be an essential in Africa: a Maggi cube. Cut deep slits into the fish (but not all the way through) and stuff them with the roof mixture. Heat the oil in a large pot. Fry the onions and smoked fish for a few minutes and then remove the fish and set aside. Stir the tomato paste and a cup of water into the oil in the pot. Add the root vegetables and tubers and the hot chile pepper. Add water to partially cover them. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or more. Add the leaf and fruit vegetables, place the fried fish on top of them, and continue to simmer for an additional twenty minutes or until the vegetables are tender. The fish and all the vegetables and set them aside, keeping them warm. Remove a cup or two of the vegetable broth and set it aside. Add the rice to the vegetable broth. Add water or remove liquid as necessary to obtain two parts liquid to one part rice. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on very low heat until the rice is cooked about twenty minutes. It should stick a little to the bottom of the pot. Find the hot chili among the vegetables. Combine it to the reserved vegetable broth in a small saucepan and bring to a slow boil. Remove and discard the pepper and put the sauce into a dish or gravy boat. When the rice is done turn the pot over onto a large serving platter. Scrape the crust from the bottom of the pot over the rice. Arrange the fish and vegetables over and around the rice. Garnish as desired. Serves 4 to 6 people.