Senegal | Thiou à la Viande (Beef Stew)

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED

As I get farther along in this project, it is getting a little more difficult to find unique recipes. Countries in each region have access to the same ingredients that are native (or easily acquired) to that region and the recipes tend to share a lot of similarities. Stews involving peanuts or peanut butter are popular all over Africa and come up often. Every single one I’ve tried has been delicious but I just wasn’t feeling like eating a groundnut stew this time around.

So, I decided to make a beef stew instead!

This stew has a tomato and vinegar base which is something I’d never tried before. In addition to the beef and the sauce, it includes onions, sweet potatoes, cabbage, turnips, and white potatoes. I’ve never tried turnips but was willing to give them a shot.

Unfortunately, the turnips at the grocery store were very soft and kind of rubbery and just did not look good. So, I substituted with parsnips and rutabagas because they were suggested somewhere in my research. I’d never had those before either so this dish became something of an adventure.

While chopping up a rutabaga, I discovered I am not a fan of the way rutabagas smell which gave me pause. Luckily, the aroma was not detectable while the stew was cooking or in the finished dish.

It took awhile for the root vegetables to become soft enough to eat, longer than the 20 minutes in the recipe but I expected that after reading the instructions. And I didn’t mind, the longer a stew cooks, the more time for the flavors to develop.  (In the photo, the vegetables look underdone but they’re actually fork-tender. Took me awhile to convince myself they were ready. 😊)

The recipe recommends serving it over rice, so I ate it over Basmati rice, and I discovered I do not like rutabagas. Every other element of the stew was good but the rutabagas had a bitterness to them that I did not like.  I’d been concerned that the amount of vinegar might overpower the dish but it didn’t at all, it just made the sauce tangy and flavorful. But the rutabagas. Ugh. I will do my best to pick them out of the leftovers but it is hard to tell what’s rutabaga and what’s white potato.

Would I make this again?

Probably not. 

I enjoyed the tomato and vinegar base and might use that to make a beef stew with vegetables I like but I would not use rutabagas again. And I'm a little hesitant on the turnip front since I've read that they can have a little bitterness as well.