Crispy fish or chicken in African onion mustard sauce

While preparing to create a new menu for a restaurant in Namibia, I saw that they regularly used mustard with some common packaged spices to flavour their meats. I immediately recalled a delicious meal I learned to make with a family in Dakar, Senegal, and decided to adapt it to give the restaurant an original dish in this part of the continent.

In French, the dish is known as ‘poisson trop cuit’, meaning overcooked fish. It gives it a super crispy texture, and the way the body is scored with little squares, you can easily pick them off one at a time, enjoying them with the savoury carmelized onion sauce, the mustard enhancing its sweetness.

I often make this with chicken, and you get that same crispy effect if you leave the skin on and deep fry it (or turn the oven up really high to crisp the skin before dropping the temperature).

Crispy fish or chicken in African onion mustard sauce

whole mackerel (or similar fish) or chicken quarters, yellow onions, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, paprika, French mustard, water

– if making fish, clean it and cut deep incisions along each side of the body both horizontally and vertically, so that the meat has a square pattern on it
– if making chicken, cut the quarters in half
– cut the onions in half, then slice horizontally and vertically into 1-1.5cm squares (about the same size as the square pattern on the fish)
– heat oil to medium heat, add onions, paprika, salt, pepper, allow to brown slowly
– add mustard to onions, stirring before adding enough water to barely cover the onions
– leave to reduce and carmelize into sauce, mixing in a touch more mustard just before serving
– heat oil in another pan, fry fish or chicken super crispy (I usually seal the outside of the chicken by deep frying it, then finish cooking it in the oven)
– serve sauce over crispy meat, and enjoy the textures and flavours with some bread!