Garba

Abidjan in a bowl: fried tuna cut over hot attiéké with raw onion, tomato and enough chilli to make the point

Origin: Abidjan & Côte d'Ivoire

From the journey of Cassava.

Garba is the street food of Abidjan and it is sold from wooden kiosks by Nigerien and Ivorian vendors on almost every corner of the working districts. Attiéké, the fermented steamed cassava couscous, goes into the bowl first. Tuna fried hard in palm oil is cut over it with scissors, and a raw salad of onion, tomato, and chilli is heaped on top. It costs very little, it is eaten with the fingers, and it is the meal of students, drivers, and anyone else who needs to eat standing up. The attiéké is what makes it Ivorian. Cassava is grated, fermented for a day or two with a starter of previously fermented root, pressed dry, granulated by hand, and steamed. The result is fluffy, faintly sour, and looks close enough to couscous that the French name stuck to it. It carries European Union protected geographical status as a product of Côte d'Ivoire, which is an unusual distinction for a West African staple and one the country takes seriously. The name is generally said to come from the Ghanaian vendors who first sold it, though the attribution is repeated more confidently than the evidence supports. What is not in doubt is the combination: hot fried fish, cool sour attiéké, and raw onion, which is a study in contrast rather than a dish that needed inventing.

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 600 g prepared attiéké (from an African grocer, fresh or dried)
  • 700 g fresh tuna, in thick steaks
  • 500 ml red palm oil or neutral oil, for frying
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper

Salad

  • 2 large onions, very finely sliced
  • 3 tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 scotch bonnet chillies, finely chopped
  • 1 stock cube, crumbled
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 tbsp oil

Method

  1. If the attiéké is dried, sprinkle it with 150ml of warm salted water, work it through with your fingers to break up every lump, and leave for ten minutes to swell. Fresh attiéké needs only loosening.
  2. Steam the attiéké over simmering water for ten to fifteen minutes, until hot and fluffy. Fork it through halfway to keep the grains separate.
  3. Meanwhile mix the salad: onion, tomato, chilli, crumbled stock cube, lemon juice, and the tablespoon of oil, with a little salt. Leave it to sit.
  4. Season the tuna steaks well with salt and pepper.
  5. Heat the frying oil to 180°C in a deep pan and fry the tuna for four to five minutes a side, until a firm dark crust has formed. Ivorian garba tuna is fried well past pink, which is the point rather than an accident: the texture is meant to be firm and the crust substantial.
  6. Drain the fish briefly on paper, then cut it into rough chunks with scissors or a knife, skin and all.
  7. Pile the hot attiéké into bowls, lay the tuna over it, and spoon the raw salad on top with its juices. Eat immediately, with the fingers if you are doing it properly.

Notes

Attiéké is the one thing here with no substitute; couscous is a different grain with none of the sourness, and cassava flour will not granulate. It is sold frozen or dried in African groceries and keeps well. The tuna is deliberately cooked through, so do not treat it as a seared steak. The salad must be raw and assembled shortly before serving, because its whole job is to be cold and sharp against the hot fish.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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