Sifio or Boiled Fish with Pinon, Crunchy Cassava Couscous Meal
Sifio or boiled fish with Pinon, a crunchy cassava couscous meal! This dish is very popular in the coastal region of Togo in West Africa, precisely in the town of Agbodrafo! It is a small town in southern part of Togo about 40 kilometers from Togo’s capital, Lome. The town is located between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Togo. Agbodrafo, the town where the Woold House is located! The Woold House is a constant reminder of the slave trade on the West African Coast! As a result the town has been recognized as part of the “slave coast”! Agbodrafo is so full of tourist sites like Lake Togo and Togoville. It is a definitely nice walk able small town and so worth visiting! Agbodrafo was developed around a Portuguese fort and was called Porto Seguro by European colonizers! Now, the small town of Agbodrafo is a hip seaside resort!
Agbodrafo’s culinary repertoire has delicious menus for foodies! People do travel from surrounding towns to enjoy these foods. My favorite is Sifio; a quick and easy meal mostly made with fresh caught fish. I will then show you my version of this Sifio recipe below. I hope you will enjoy it! You can purchase the crunchy cassava couscous here.
Ingredients
2 medium Clean fish cut in half and preseasoned with salt and pepper or your favorite fish seasoning. (I prefer red snappers for fish but I used Tilapia in this recipe)
4 Tablespoons of ginger paste
4 Tablespoon of Onion paste
1/2 cup of fresh tomato puree
1 teaspoon of garlic paste
1 Teaspoon of chili pepper paste
Bouillon Seasoning (to taste)
1 Teaspoon of black pepper
Salt( to taste)
Garnish (optional)
2 cups of water or veggie stock
4 Tablespoons of oil
1 Cup of Gari
Instructions
1
On a medium heat, in a large wok
2
Add oil, tomato puree, ginger, onion, garlic
3
let it cook for 5 minutes while stirring
4
Add in the 2 cup of water/veggie stock
5
The add the pre-seasoned fish, black pepper
6
Add salt and bouillon to taste
7
cover and let it boil for 7 minutes
8
Gently remove the fish from the boiling stew and set aside
9
With spatula in the boiling stock, add the Gari while stirring constantly to avoid any clump.
10
Once the gari is well mixed to the stew, remove from the stove and pour the gari stew mixture called (Pinon) into a serving bowl.
11
Serve warm with the fish and some pepper paste and/or stir fried onion, tomato and bell peppers
