Yassa, a traditional spicy hangover meal from Senegal

The Senegalese hangover cure yassa.

We already gave you some tips and tricks to get rid of your hangover. But every country has its own traditional dishes to make the process go faster. We like to give you a taste of the international anti-hangover cuisine. After a long search we found our first dish from the African continent. Yassa is a spicy chicken meal from Senegal, quite different from the hangover cures we presented so far. But definitely a delicious one, even when you don’t feel drums playing in your head.

So what do we know about Senegal? The country is best known from the original Dakar Rally, singer Akon and it’s footballteam. But what about drinking? Senegal is a predominantly Muslim country, but there are no laws against alcohol. Not even for teenagers. However it’s not really socially accepted to do this in public (outside). So everyone goes to bars to get their drink on. Senegal has it’s own beers Gazelle and Flag, as well as palm wine and hard liquors kana (palm) and soumsoum (cashew). Enough tasty temptations to make you wake up with a massive headache. And that’s where the Yassa comes in. So let’s get cooking.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 large onions, thinly sliced
Salt
Freshy ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh habanero chili pepper
5 tablespoons peanut oil
1 frying chicken
1 whole habanero chili pepper
1/2 cup pimento-stuffed olives
4 carrots
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup water
Plain white rice

Preparation:
Start by making the marinade in a bowl. Cut up the onions (not too small) and the minced chili pepper and mix them with the lemon juice, salt, pepper and 4 tablespoons of peanut oil. Now cut up the chicken in pieces and cover them with the marinade. Cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge for 3 hours.
Than remove the chicken and set the marinade aside. Place the chicken parts in a shallow pan and fry them until lightly browned on both sides.
Now remove the onions from the marinade. Heat up the remaining tablespoon of peanut oil in a casserole and cook the onions until translucent. Then add the rest of the marmelade. When it’s properly heated you add the chicken parts, the habanero chili pepper (first pierce holes in it with a fork), olives, carrots (thinly sliced), mustard and water. Get the whole thing to boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Remove and reserve the habanero chili pepper, later you can serve this seperately.
Cover the casserole and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve it with plain white rice. Well, guess you know how to prepare that. Enjoy!

Micky Bumbar

Check out more tasty hangover cures from around the world