Tagalia

Ingredients

Meat

• 300 gcharmoute, sun-dried beef, or 500 g fresh beef, minced or diced small

Base

• 4 tbspoil or clarified butter
• 2onions, chopped
• 4 clovesgarlic
• 4tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbsptomato paste

Seasoning

• 1 tspground black pepper
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1chilli, or more
• 1stock cube
• salt
• 500 mlwater

Optional

• 1 tbsppeanut butter
• dried okra powder, to thicken
• 2 tbspdried tomato

To serve

• boule, the millet or sorghum dumpling
• or rice

Directions

1. Soak the charmoute in warm water for at least an hour, and longer if it is very hard. Soak it properly. Change the water once if it is heavily salted. Taste a piece after soaking and judge how much salt the sauce will need later.
2. Drain it and pound or chop it into small pieces. If using fresh beef instead, mince it or cut it very small.
3. Add the garlic and cook a minute more. Now add the tomato paste and fry it for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook them down to a thick base, about 10 minutes.
4. Cook the tomatoes down properly rather than adding water early, since that concentration is where the flavour is. Add the pepper, cumin, chilli and stock cube. Add the water and bring it to a simmer. Simmer, partly covered, for 40 minutes to an hour.
5. Cook it long. Dried meat needs the time to soften properly and to release its flavour into the sauce. Add more water if it goes dry, and let it reduce at the end.
6. Stir in the peanut butter if using, slackening it with a ladle of the hot sauce first so it does not seize.
7. Taste before adding salt, since charmoute is salted and may have brought enough with it. It should be thick, deeply savoury and hot, and it should coat a spoon rather than run. Serve it in a bowl alongside a mound of boule.

Technique

• Charmoute is sun-dried beef and is sold in Chadian and Sahelian markets.
• Boule is the staple starch and is made from millet, sorghum or maize.
• The sauce is deliberately concentrated because it is eaten with a lot of starch.

Substitutions

• Fresh minced beef in place of dried, which is milder.
• Biltong or any unseasoned dried beef, soaked.

Variations

• With peanut butter stirred in.
• With dried okra to thicken it.
• Made with fresh meat, which is the everyday version when meat is available.

History

Built on charmoute, the sun-dried meat that Chadian households keep through the dry season.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tagalia?

Tagalia is a sauce & condiment from Chad: sauce of minced or dried meat with tomato and onion, served over dumplings. Built on charmoute, the sun-dried meat that Chadian households keep through the dry season.

How long does Tagalia take to make?

Tagalia takes 30 min plus soaking of preparation and 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tagalia?

Yes, within limits. Fresh minced beef in place of dried, which is milder. Biltong or any unseasoned dried beef, soaked.

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

Cook the tomatoes down properly rather than adding water early, since that concentration is where the flavour is. Add the pepper, cumin, chilli and stock cube. Add the water and bring it to a simmer. Simmer, partly covered, for 40 minutes to an hour.