''Tiep'' (or ''thieb or benechin or benachin or jollof rice)'' is a traditional dish from

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

and an intangible cultural heritage of humanity that is also consumed in

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, and other West and Central African countries. It is the national dish in Senegal. The version of tiep called ''thieboudienne,'' ''Ceebu Jën'' or ''chebu jen'' (; ) is prepared with fish, broken rice and tomato sauce cooked in one pot. There are also ''tiep yappa'' (with meat) and ''tiep ganaar'' (with chicken). Additional ingredients often include onions, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage,

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

, hot pepper, lime and peanut oil, and stock cubes.

History

Historically, tiep is commonly attributed to the city of Saint-Louis, in the nineteenth century. The name of the dish comes from Wolof words meaning 'rice' () and 'fish' (). In Pulaar it is known as ('rice and fish'). In Hassaniya Arabic the

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

() is also frequently used together with the Wolof loanword. It is served on large trays with the rice on the bottom and the fish, usually white grouper (''Epinephelus aeneus''), and the vegetables, many of them whole, placed in the center. The collapse of white grouper fisheries has reduced access to the dish.

Serving

Traditionally it is eaten in a large communal dish with the hand. It is also the symbol of Senegalese ''terranga'' (hospitality): family, visiting friends and guests gather around a single dish (called a ''bolus'') from which everyone eats using a spoon (''couddou Pulaar'') or their hand.

Related dishes

The popular West African dish known as jollof is thought to have originated from the thieboudienne, but is usually made with meat rather than fish, and the rice is mixed into the other ingredients. The

Gullah The Gullah () are a subgroup of the African Americans, African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within ...

dish red rice resembles thieboudienne, suggesting a

creolization Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge. Creolization was first used by linguists to explain how contact languages become creole languages, but now scholars in other social sciences use the term to describe ...

of foodways from West Africa in the New World by enslaved Africans and their descendants. Like thieboudienne, there are regional variations of red rice throughout the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, including Savannah red rice and Charleston red rice. - Registration required

Recipe

It is a preparation of fresh or dried fish, and broken rice (rice Wolof), cooked with vegetables (such as cassava, pumpkin, cabbage, carrot, turnip, or eggplant), parsley, tomato paste, peppers, garlic and onions. Originally made with fish, it is not unusual to see it served with beef or chicken.

Variations

By country

Originally from Senegal, the traditional recipe includes fish, rice, tomato and onions. Thieboudienne is sometimes called benechin in Senegal which means 'one pot' in Wolof. However, tiep is commonly consumed in several countries in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. Depending on the country, the recipe and the ingredients change—even the method of cooking can differ. In Mali, tiep is known as ''tieb'', a dish consisting of chicken, rice and vegetables such as a tomato and onion base. Jollof rice which derived from tiep is a popular dish especially in Nigeria and Ghana. In Cameroon, Guinea and Ivory Coast the dish is called ''riz gras''. The components are similar to the original recipe's ingredients with the inclusion of tomatoes, rice and onions.

By ethnicity

Senegal's distinctive ethnic groups have their own variations on cuisine and eating habits, influenced either by proximity to the ocean or the traditions of nomadism and cattle raising. For instance, people from southern Senegal usually also add some bissap while people from

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

and Saint-Louis will use some ''soul'' (Wolof).

Other renderings

Other renderings of the name include: ''ceebu jen'', ''cee bu jen'', ''ceeb u jen'', ''thebouidienne'', ''theibou dienn'', ''thiebou dienn'', ''thiebou dinne'', ''thiébou dieune'', ''tíe biou dienne'', ''thieb-ou-djien'', ''thiebu djen'' or ''riz au poisson''.