What we can say with some confidence is that the national dish of Guinea — or at least a popular dish in Guinea — is poulet yassa (yes, more chicken). What we can’t swear to is whether we made it correctly. The distinguishing feature of this one is the lemon and onion marinade, which we did do, but we also read that it contains mustard, but then couldn’t find a single recipe that actually included mustard. So, with thanks to National Foods for the recipe, we’ve made a version of poulet yassa, but if anyone from Guinea is reading this and would like to tell us how close to the mark it is, please go ahead.
Poulet yassa
Ingredients
5 chicken thighs (skin on, bone in)
Juice of 3 large lemons
3 large onions, peeled and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil
1 small chilli pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 chicken stock cubes, crumbled
Cooking oil
2 cups water
Salt and pepper
Rice, to serve
Method
1. The night before, make the marinade by mixing the lemon juice, onions, garlic, bay leaf, peanut oil, chilli and stock cubes in a large bowl.
2. Add the chicken and mix thoroughly until the meat is coated with the marinade. Cover and chill in the fridge overnight.
3. The next day, either roast the chicken in the oven or fry in a pan with some oil until golden brown and cooked through, reserving the marinade.
4. Set the chicken aside and saute the onions from the marinade in a little oil.
5. Once the onions are brown and caramelised, add the water to the pan and stir.
6. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, add the chicken and let it simmer for a few minutes.
8. Serve with rice.
Serves 2-3
That was a lot of photos for a dish with hardly any processes haha. It doesn’t get much more simple, but it was almost too simple – we wanted a bit more substance to the sauce (although, as always, the fact that we didn’t add chilli or salt until it got to the table probably didn’t help). Maybe it did need the mustard after all. The kids were equally unfussed: Preschooler Mash did try a bite but claimed not to like it, whilst Baby Mash didn’t try it at all. Probably not one we’ll repeat!
Good Food on Bad Plates 