Thieboudiene -- Mauritania

This traditional Mauritanian dish has simple ingredients and is extremely tasty!

Thieboudiene Recipe
Makes 6 servings; courtesy of http://www.thekitchn.com/5-dishes-from-mauritania-122092

Ingredients

Rice
Vegetables: okra, cabbage, carrots, eggplant, potato, squash, red pepper - clean, peel, soak in water with garlic (any assortment of vegetable should work fine)
Fish Seasoning: black ground pepper, salt, 2 cloves garlic, 4 sprigs parsley, small red pepper, half onion - combine with mortar & pestle
2-4 Small Fish; clean and stuff seasoning inside (I rubbed seasoning into hoki fillets)
Sauce Seasoning: 2-3 cloves garlic, 1 tsp black pepper, remaining onion, 1-3 cubes bullion (chicken stock) - combine with mortar & pestle
3 tbsp Tomato Paste

Method 

Heat a large, heavy, empty pot until warm, covered. Add about 1/2 liter of oil with a little butter, recover with lid.  (alternatively heat a small amount of oil in a nonstick pan)

When oil is hot, fry the fish, uncovered. Remove the fish when done.

Mix together a little water and approx 3 Tbsp of tomato paste. Add to the frying oil and stir occasionally. Add vegetables and about 2 liters of water to the oil/tomato paste mixture in pot.

Put the fish back in the pot (if using whole fish; I left adding the fish back in until plating up so that it wouldn't fall apart). Add sauce seasonings and cover partially

Put rice in a steamer on top of the pot and cover. Remove veggies, fish, and a little sauce from the tomato/oil mixture once rice has been steamed (~20 minutes, maybe less) and set aside, keeping warm. Add rice to remaining sauce in the pot and stir to mix thoroughly. Cover pot, stirring rice mixture occasionally.

When ready to serve, place rice/sauce/oil mixture in a large bowl, also scraping up the crispy, burnt rice from the bottom of the pot. Place fish and vegetables on top of the rice and serve.