Stuffed Chicken Burger with Spicy Tomato & Okra
For anyone new to the site, my mission is to create an original burger recipe inspired by the flavors of each country in the United Nations (193 countries!). Our journey is alphabetical and next stop is Mauritania. Mauritania is on the Northwest coast of Africa. Most of the country is Saharan desert plains. It was originally settled by the Berber & Bafour people.
They were the first nomadic people to convert to an agricultural lifestyle. Today most of the Mauritanian population live near the coastal capital of Nouakchott and along the Southern border. One third of Mauritanians are of Berber or Bafour decent.
Mauritania was a French colony and gained its independence in 1960. There is a strong caste system in the country and slavery continues to be a problem. Slavery was abolished in 1981 and criminalized in 2007, but it’s estimated that 2% of the population is still enslaved. It is a Muslim country and Arabic is the official language..
Because of the rich fishing waters along the coast and in the Senegal River along the Southern border, fish is an important part of Mauritanian cuisine. That being said, there is also a fair amount of meat as part of the nomadic herding tradition. In researching the cuisine, I was inspired by Thieboudiene, which many tout as the “national dish” or Mauritania.
Thieboudiene recipes vary, but most of them have a meaty white fish stuffed with onions and peppers cooked in a tomato veggie sauce and served over rice. Most of the recipes I’ve seen have large chunks of meat/fish and large pieces of various vegetables. Internationalcuisine.com has a pretty typical recipe if you want to try out the original dish. The vegetables vary by recipe and likely vary in practice based on what is available. Netetou is the only ingredient not commonly available in the US.
Netetou is dried fermented locust bean powder. We have the luxury of several international markets in our area, but I was pressed for time this week, so I ordered netetou on Amazon (it arrived the next day). I don’t think it changed the flavor dramatically, so if you don’t want to order on Amazon and can’t find it locally, you can go without it.
Like many African countries, Mauritanian cuisine is often very spicy. In my recipe, I’ve given you options for how spicy you want the sauce. I chose to use fresh habanero pepper to provide the heat. There are two tricks to using habaneros. First, always use gloves when cutting the peppers – the oil from these peppers is HOT and you don’t want it on your fingers, especially if you get something in your eye and forget about the pepper oil – very uncomfortable. The second trick (or hack if you’re into that) is that you can control the heat – keep tasting as you go along and when it gets to the right level of spice, remove the habanero pepper pieces (for this reason, I keep the pieces pretty big so they’re easier to find). The longer the spices remain, the spicier, so just take them out when you’re happy. If you love super hot food, add more and leave them in – you are in control.
My sauce is based on Thieboudienne, but is my own riff. All of my recipes are original – I use source recipes for ingredient ideas – but everything else is my own invention. The spicy tomato & okra sauce is rich and delicious with the sweetness of tomatoes and onions spiked with that lovely habanero and accented nicely with the earthy okra. The rice cake is super crispy (do not try to heat up as a leftover – it becomes too chewy and crispy if microwaved next day). As for the most important meat choice…I tried this with both fish and chicken (because I was indecisive).
Fish is closer to the original inspiration dish, while chicken is a common inexpensive meat used frequently in Mauritanian dishes. The fish I used was tilapia because it’s an inexpensive meaty fish. It handled being put through the meat grinder pretty well. I think it would have worked fine as a regular burger, but as a stuffed burger, it fell apart a bit. Not a big problem as I always knew this would be a fork and knife burger. The chicken held together better and looked more burger like. But what about the taste?
The fish flavor didn’t hold up to the boldness of the sauce. It was good, but we got no taste of fish, it was just a little bland. Chicken had more flavor and integrated into the dish better – so chicken it is! We drank a nice Pinot Gris from Alsace with this and it was perfect – perhaps a South African Sauvignon Blanc would have been more “on the nose”, but we didn’t have one around, and really, mixing cultures and flavors is kind part of this whole project. I hope you enjoy this taste of Mauritania!
©Copyright 2023 Linda Monach
Mauritanian Burger
Ingredients
Stuffing
- 1 Small onion cut in quarters
- 1 Large clove of garlic
- 1/2 Red bell pepper cut in large chunks
- 1/2 Green bell pepper cut in large chunks
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Black pepper
- 2 teaspoons Peanut oil
- 1/2 Habanero pepper – seeds removed & cut in half (more if you like more spice)
Spicy Tomato & Okra Topping
- 4 Tomatoes chopped
- 1/2 Red pepper chopped
- 1/2 Green pepper chopped
- 1 Small onion chopped
- 8 Okra sliced
- 1/2 Habanero pepper sliced
- 1 Chicken bullion cube (I use Maggi brand)
- 1 Tablespoon Peanut oil
Rice Cakes
- 1 Cup Long grained white rice
- 1/3 Cup Tapioca flour
- Peanut oil
Mauritanian Burger
- 1 3/4 lb Chick thighs (skinless, boneless)
- 4 teaspoons Netetou (dried locus beans) – also called dawadawa or sumbala, available online or at specialty markets
- Peanut oil
- Stuffing Mixture from above
- Spicy Tomato & Okra Sauce from above
- Fresh Parsley Chopped optional garnish
Instructions
Stuffing
- Place all ingredients except oil and habanero pepper in food processor. Pulse until everything is chopped fine.
- Heat oil in non-stick pan.
- Add stuffing mixture and habanero pepper to oil and sauté over medium high heat until liquid is evaporated, stirring regularly.
- Remove habanero pepper pieces from stuffing.
- Set aside to cool
Spicy Tomato & Okra Topping
- Using the same pan from the stuffing, heat oil over medium high heat.
- Add onion and cook until slightly soft (2-4 minutes). Then add red and green peppers and cook until onions begin to brown (5-7 minutes).
- Add okra and habanero and cook until okra its slightly browned. Note: habanero can be left in the sauce until the end, or removed at any time – the longer you leave it in, the spicier the sauce will be.
- Add tomatoes and bouillon cube. Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for one hour, then remove cover and simmer until most of the liquid is gone.
Rice Cakes
- While the sauce is simmering, Cook rice using standard cooking instructions, cool enough that you won't burn your hands while handling. Add tapioca flour and mix together using your hands. Form four burger sized patties with the mixture.
- Add peanut oil 1/8" deep coating to nonstick pan. Heat over high heat until shimmering. Add the rice cakes and fry until lightly browned, turn and cook other side. Remove from oil and keep warm until ready to serve.
Mauritania Burger
- Cut chicken into chunks and grind using large grind (you can use ground chicken from the grocery store, but it doesn't have as good a flavor as the home grind. You can get a meat grinder attachment for Kitchen Aide mixer for as low as $35).
- Divide Chicken into 8 portions. Take four portions and flatten out then add 1/4 of the stuffing to each.
- Use the remaining 4 portions of chicken to seal the stuffing in the burger. Then season each patty generously on both sides with Netetou. (use a thin pancake turner to flip the burgers for seasoning, if any stuffing peeks out, just tuck it back in and seal with chicken.
- Heat oil in non stick pan. Cook the burgers over medium high heat until chicken is cooked through (a quick read thermometer is helpful when cooking chicken this way). Do not press down on burgers as they are cooking or the stuffing will escape!
- Plate with Rice Cake on bottom, then burger patty and top with tomato & okra sauce. Garnish with some fresh parsley for a touch of added color. Pairs great with a light summery white wine – Pinot Gris from Alsace is a favorite in our house.
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