Akpessi

Ingredients

The base vegetable

• 6green plantains
• firm and completely unripe
• peeled and cut into thick chunks
• or 800 g aubergine, cut large
• or a mixture of the two
• or yam or cassava, in chunks

The fish

• 300 gsmoked fish
• soaked and cleaned carefully
• or dried fish, soaked
• or 400 g fresh fish, added late

The seasoning

• 4 tablespoonsred palm oil
• 2onions, chopped
• 4 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 3tomatoes, chopped
• or 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 1hot chilli, left whole
• 1stock cube, optional
• salt and black pepper
• about 800 ml water

Sometimes added

• 1aubergine, extra
• a handful of okra
• a few leaves of spinach or greens
• a little ground crayfish

To serve

• in deep bowls
• with the cooking liquid
• sliced raw onion
• extra chilli, on the side

Directions

1. Oil your hands and your knife before you start. Oil dissolves the sap where water simply does not. Cut both ends off each plantain first. Score the skin lengthways in two or three lines, cutting only the skin. Cut the peeled flesh into thick chunks and drop them into water. That stops them browning while you work on the rest.
2. Oil palm cultivation drives deforestation, overwhelmingly in Southeast Asia. They also keep for a long time without refrigeration. Soak it in hot water for about twenty minutes to soften it. Remove the bones, the scales, the fins and any grit.
3. Rinse it in several changes of clean water. Heat the red palm oil gently in a large heavy pot. Add the chopped onions with a pinch of salt. Cook them until soft and translucent, about eight minutes.
4. Add the crushed garlic and cook it for a further two minutes. Add the tomato purée and fry it for two or three minutes. Add the chopped fresh tomatoes and cook them down until they collapse. That takes about eight to ten minutes over a medium heat.
5. Add the drained plantain chunks or the aubergine. Add the cleaned smoked fish to the pot. Pour in enough water to nearly cover everything. Add the stock cube if you are using one, and season with salt and pepper. Add the whole chilli, left completely unbroken. An unbroken chilli perfumes the pot without making it fiercely hot.
6. Bring it to a boil and then lower it to a steady simmer. Cover it partly and simmer for about thirty minutes. Green plantain takes about that long to become tender.
7. Lay the pieces on top and do not stir the pot afterwards. Shake the pot gently instead if you need to move things. There should be a good amount of liquid remaining. Add more water if it has reduced too far. Simmer it uncovered for a few minutes if it is too thin. It needs more salt than you might expect.
8. Remove the chilli before serving, or leave it for someone to crush. Ladle it into deep bowls with plenty of the liquid. Make sure each bowl gets vegetables and some fish. Serve sliced raw onion alongside, which cuts the richness. Put extra chilli on the table for those who want more heat.
9. Wash your hands before and after the meal. It is a complete meal in itself and needs nothing else. Add a splash of water, since it thickens as it stands. The palm oil sets solid when cold, which is entirely normal.

Technique

• Akpessi is a method rather than a fixed recipe. Green plantain, aubergine, yam, cassava and sweet potato all appear, often two or three together — whatever is available and cheap goes into the pot.
• The plantains must be completely green. Any yellowing means the starch is turning to sugar, and ripe plantain goes sweet and mushy, which is the wrong dish entirely.
• Green plantains leak a sticky sap that stains hands and clothes brown for days and does not wash off with water. Oil your hands and knife first, score the skin lengthways and prise it off in strips.
• Red palm oil gives the dish its colour as much as its flavour, and ordinary vegetable oil loses both. Do not let it smoke — overheated palm oil turns acrid and fills the kitchen with harsh smoke. Open a window before you start.
• Soak smoked or dried fish in hot water for twenty minutes, then pick through it carefully for bones, scales, fins and grit, and rinse it several times. Dried fish often carries sand from the drying process, and some in some markets has been treated with pesticides — buy from a reputable supplier.
• Add aubergine later than plantain if you use both. Green plantain needs about thirty minutes and aubergine about fifteen.
• If you use fresh fish instead of smoked, lay it on top for the last eight to ten minutes and do not stir afterwards. Shake the pot gently rather than stirring, or the fish breaks into shreds.
• Leave the chilli whole. Unbroken it perfumes the pot; burst it makes the whole dish fiercely hot, so warn the table.
• Season it more than seems right. Plantain absorbs a great deal of salt as it cooks and an under-seasoned pot tastes flat.
• Oil palm cultivation drives deforestation, overwhelmingly in Southeast Asia. The oil palm is native to West Africa and production there is largely smallholder and traditional. The atlas notes that distinction without pretending the global issue does not exist.

Substitutions

• Yam, cassava or sweet potato replace plantain, and a mixture of two or three is common.
• Aubergine alone makes a lighter and quicker version, needing about fifteen minutes.
• Fresh fish replaces smoked; add it in the last eight to ten minutes and do not stir.
• Ground crayfish added to the pot gives extra savoury depth.
• Groundnut oil replaces red palm oil at a real cost, since the colour and character are lost.
• A vegetarian version without fish works, seasoned well with a good stock and extra tomato.

Variations

• An aubergine-only version is quick and light and is made constantly in Ivorian households.
• A version with okra added near the end gives the liquid a slippery body.
• Some cooks add a handful of greens in the last few minutes.
• Kedjenou, chicken slow-cooked in a sealed pot, is the other great Ivorian one-pot dish.
• Related boiled one-pot dishes with palm oil and smoked fish are made across Ghana, Togo and Benin.
• A version made with fresh fish alone, and no smoked fish at all, is common on the coast.

Frequently asked questions

What is Akpessi?

Akpessi is a main from Côte d’Ivoire: boiled plantain or aubergine one-pot with smoked fish and palm oil.

How long does Akpessi take to make?

Akpessi takes 25 minutes of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Akpessi?

Yes, within limits. Yam, cassava or sweet potato replace plantain, and a mixture of two or three is common. Aubergine alone makes a lighter and quicker version, needing about fifteen minutes. Fresh fish replaces smoked; add it in the last eight to ten minutes and do not stir. Ground crayfish added to the pot gives extra savoury depth. Groundnut oil replaces red palm oil at a real cost, since the colour and character are lost. A vegetarian version without fish works, seasoned well with a good stock and extra tomato.

What is the most important thing to get right in Akpessi?

Add the drained plantain chunks or the aubergine. Add the cleaned smoked fish to the pot. Pour in enough water to nearly cover everything. Add the stock cube if you are using one, and season with salt and pepper. Add the whole chilli, left completely unbroken. An unbroken chilli perfumes the pot without making it fiercely hot.