Cooking fish! (with recipe)

Fresh fish in the market meant a last minute menu change for “Cooking with Muzungus” today. I learned how to gut and scale fish and to make a peanut broth for the fish and ubugari, and I present it here as my first Rwandan recipe.

Ingredients (amounts are my estimates, feel free to adjust):

Fish (ours were whole with bones, 2 per person, so I leave the specifics up to you)

1.5 medium red onions, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

1 stick celery, diced (use leaves, too)

Tomatoes, peeled and cut up (1 can diced tomatoes would work)

Peanut powder (Peanut butter would work) – a lot, to taste

Water for broth

Oil (a bit more than you’d normally use is probably the right amount)

“fish masala” (cumin, coriander, tumeric, msg)

Red beans (Kidney beans?) – one can would do

Note that flavor will be enhanced by cooking over charcoal.

Cook the fish (we lightly powdered them with cassava flour and deep fried them in oil but you may choose a healthier and more headless method) and set aside (covered, to keep flies off).

Saute 1 onion with the pepper and celery. If you fried the fish, use the same oil for this. Add the tomatoes and cook a few minutes more. Add seasoning, water and peanut powder, cook until flavors are blended. Add fish and heat through.

While heating, saute ½ an onion in oil and add beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes to develop flavor.

Serve with Ubugari or over rice. Add beans as desired to individual bowls.