Chere — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Fine steamed millet couscous served with a savory lentil and vegetable sauce enriched with dried fish and tomato paste.

Ingredients

3 cups millet couscous
1 cup brown lentils
2 tbsp tomato paste
200g dried fish, soaked and flaked
2 carrots, diced
1 eggplant, cubed
2 onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 Maggi cubes
1 Scotch bonnet pepper
Salt to taste
4 cups water

Instructions

1 Wash lentils and soak for thirty minutes. Prepare millet couscous by moistening and separating grains.
2 Steam the couscous in a couscoussier for twenty minutes.
3 Heat oil in a saucepan. Saute onions and garlic until softened.
4 Add tomato paste and stir for two minutes. Add lentils, carrots, eggplant, and water.
5 Add dried fish, Maggi cubes, and Scotch bonnet. Simmer for thirty minutes until lentils are tender.
6 Mound the steamed couscous on a platter and ladle the lentil sauce over the top. Serve communally.

Did You Know?

Chere is so integral to Gambian culture that it is sometimes called the national dish alongside benachin, and families often judge the harvest season by the quality of their millet couscous.