Atassi

Ingredients

The pot

• 300 gdried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight
• 300 glong-grain rice, rinsed
• 1large onion, chopped
• 3 tbspred palm oil
• 1 tspsalt
• 1.2 litreswater

Pepper sauce

• 4tomatoes, blended
• 1onion, blended
• 2scotch bonnets, blended
• 3 tbsppalm oil
• 1 tbspdried ground shrimp (optional)
• 1stock cube
• salt

To serve

• 2ripe plantains, sliced and fried
• gari (grated cassava), optional

Directions

1. Drain the soaked peas, cover with the water and simmer 35–40 minutes until nearly tender but still holding their shape. Do not salt them yet — salt early toughens the skins.
2. Meanwhile make the sauce: fry the blended onion in the palm oil for 5 minutes, add the blended tomato and scotch bonnet, the ground shrimp and stock cube, and cook down 20 minutes until thick and the oil rises to the surface.
3. Add the rinsed rice, chopped onion, palm oil and salt to the pea pot. The liquid should sit about 2 cm above the rice; adjust with hot water.
4. Cover tightly and cook over low heat 20–25 minutes without stirring, until the rice is done and the liquid absorbed.
5. Take off the heat and leave covered another 10 minutes, then fork through gently to combine the rice and peas without crushing them.
6. Serve mounded with the pepper sauce spooned over and fried plantain alongside.

Technique

• Cook the peas most of the way before the rice goes in. Started together, the rice turns to mush long before the peas soften.
• Do not stir once the rice is in. Stirring breaks the grains and makes it sticky.
• Red palm oil is the flavour, not just the colour. Refined oil gives a pale and much plainer dish.

Substitutions

• Tinned black-eyed peas, drained, added with the rice, for a weeknight version.
• Groundnut oil where palm oil is unavailable, with a spoonful of paprika for colour.

Variations

• Waakye, the closely related Ghanaian rice and beans, coloured with sorghum leaves.
• A version cooked with coconut milk in place of some of the water.

History

The Fon name for the rice-and-bean one-pot found across the coast as Ghanaian waakye and Togolese ayimolou, a cheap working-day plate.

Frequently asked questions

What is Atassi?

Atassi is a main from Benin: rice and beans cooked together, eaten with pepper sauce and fried plantain. The Fon name for the rice-and-bean one-pot found across the coast as Ghanaian waakye and Togolese ayimolou, a cheap working-day plate.

How long does Atassi take to make?

Atassi takes 15 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 1 hr 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Atassi?

Yes, within limits. Tinned black-eyed peas, drained, added with the rice, for a weeknight version. Groundnut oil where palm oil is unavailable, with a spoonful of paprika for colour.

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

Drain the soaked peas, cover with the water and simmer 35–40 minutes until nearly tender but still holding their shape. Do not salt them yet — salt early toughens the skins.