🇸🇳 Senegalese Cuisine

Yassa Poisson

Fish in Onion-Lemon Sauce

Prep Time 50 min

Servings 4

Difficulty Medium

Calories 352 kcal

Grilled fish smothered in a tangy, caramelized onion and lemon sauce with mustard and olives — the seafood version of Senegal's iconic yassa.

Ingredients

4 whole tilapia or sea bream, cleaned and scored
6 large onions, thinly sliced
4 limes, juiced
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 green olives, pitted
2 scotch bonnet peppers
1 bay leaf
2 bouillon cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup water

Instructions

1 Marinate fish with half the lime juice, salt, and pepper for 20 minutes.
2 Grill or pan-fry fish until charred and cooked through. Set aside.
3 Heat oil in a pot. Add sliced onions and cook on medium-low for 20 minutes until deeply caramelized.
4 Add mustard, remaining lime juice, bouillon, bay leaf, scotch bonnet, and water. Simmer 10 minutes.
5 Add olives and stir.
6 Place grilled fish into the onion sauce, spoon sauce over the top. Simmer 5 minutes and serve with rice.

Did You Know?

The Diola people of Casamance, who invented yassa, insist that the fish version came first — the chicken yassa that made the dish famous was actually the adaptation.