Caldo de chabéu

Ingredients

Palm pulp (chabéu)

• 2 kgripe oil palm fruit, orange-red and soft to the squeeze
• 3 litreswater, for boiling and washing the pulp
• Or 800 g tinned palm fruit concentrate, sold as sauce graine or banga

Stew

• 1.5 kgfirm white fish such as sea bream, barracuda or grouper, in thick steaks
• Juice of 2 limes and 1 tbsp coarse salt, for washing the fish
• 300 gokra, trimmed and left whole
• 2onions (about 250 g), chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 3malagueta or scotch bonnet peppers, 1 chopped and 2 whole
• 1aubergine, cubed
• 2stock cubes
• 1 tspsalt
• 1bay leaf

To serve

• 500 gwhite rice, steamed
• Lime wedges

Directions

1. Boil the palm fruit in water for 30–40 minutes until the orange flesh gives easily under a thumbnail and the nut inside comes loose.
2. Drain, keeping the water, and pound the hot fruit in a wooden mortar until the pulp separates from the fibrous nuts. Do not crush the hard kernels.
3. Pour warm water over the pounded pulp and squeeze it through your hands repeatedly, then strain through a coarse sieve. You should have around 1.5 litres of thick, orange-red palm cream. Discard the nuts and fibre.
4. Wash the fish steaks with lime juice and coarse salt, rinse and pat dry. Every West African kitchen does this and it is what stops the stew tasting muddy.
5. Bring the palm cream to the boil in a wide heavy pot and let it bubble hard, uncovered, for 20 minutes. It will thicken and a slick of red oil will rise to the surface.
6. Add the onion, garlic, tomato, chopped pepper, aubergine, bay leaf and stock cubes and simmer another 15 minutes.
7. Slide in the fish steaks and the whole peppers, arranging them in one layer so they are just covered by the sauce.
8. Simmer very gently for 12–15 minutes without stirring, moving the pot rather than the spoon, until the fish is opaque and flakes at the thickest point.
9. Drop in the okra for the last 6–8 minutes only, so it stays green and just tender rather than collapsing into slime.
10. Lift out the whole peppers, taste for salt and serve the caldo ladled over mounds of plain white rice, with lime on the side.

Technique

• Chabéu is the pulp of the oil palm fruit, not palm oil. It is thicker, more savoury and less oily, and no amount of palm oil will substitute for it.
• Boil the palm cream hard before anything else goes in. That initial reduction is what breaks the emulsion and brings the characteristic red oil to the surface.
• The fish goes in whole, on the bone, in thick steaks. Filleted fish falls apart and the bones are where much of the flavour comes from.
• Leave the hottest peppers whole. Bissau-Guinean cooking is aromatic rather than searing, and a burst malagueta will overwhelm the palm fruit.

Substitutions

• No fresh palm fruit: tinned palm fruit concentrate, labelled sauce graine, banga or polpa de dendê, is what most cooks abroad use. Dilute 800 g with 800 ml water and boil the same way.
• No barracuda or bream: any firm white fish that holds together, such as monkfish, hake steaks or catfish, will do.
• Guinea-Bissau also makes this with smoked fish alongside the fresh, which deepens the whole pot.

Variations

• Caldo de chabéu with fresh fish, the Sunday and celebration version.
• Chabéu with smoked fish and dried shrimp, the everyday version.
• Related Nigerian banga soup and Ivorian sauce graine, made from the same palm pulp with different spicing.

History

Chabeu is the red pulp pressed from oil-palm fruit; the stew is the festive dish of the Bijagos and coastal peoples, served at ceremonies.

Frequently asked questions

What is Caldo de chabéu?

Caldo de chabéu is a soup & stew from Guinea-Bissau: fish stewed in red palm-fruit pulp with okra, over rice. Chabeu is the red pulp pressed from oil-palm fruit; the stew is the festive dish of the Bijagos and coastal peoples, served at ceremonies.

How long does Caldo de chabéu take to make?

Caldo de chabéu takes 45 min of preparation and 1 hr 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Caldo de chabéu?

Yes, within limits. No fresh palm fruit: tinned palm fruit concentrate, labelled sauce graine, banga or polpa de dendê, is what most cooks abroad use. Dilute 800 g with 800 ml water and boil the same way. No barracuda or bream: any firm white fish that holds together, such as monkfish, hake steaks or catfish, will do. Guinea-Bissau also makes this with smoked fish alongside the fresh, which deepens the whole pot.

What is the most important thing to get right in Caldo de chabéu?

Drain, keeping the water, and pound the hot fruit in a wooden mortar until the pulp separates from the fibrous nuts. Do not crush the hard kernels.