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| Power Style Wellness Connections |
Out of Africa
By Kimberly Crum • Photos by Ewa Wojtkowska
When she was 13 years old, Khady Sene began
cooking three meals daily for her family of 20 people.
We Americans might have trouble imagining pubescent
girls feeding their families, but it is tradition in Khady’s
native Senegal. The youngest girl in the family cooks,
and the boys make tea.
I imagine Senegalese women and girls in brightly colored
cotton dresses, chatting in their native Wokol, near an
open hearth where fish and vegetables simmer in iron
pots. The girls serve the meal in common bowls. Like
most Africans, Senegalese eat using the right hands.
During the communal meal, the boys pour three servings
of tea into small shot-glass sized glasses; each glass is sweetened with varying
amounts of sugar and mint.
Five years ago, Khady and Fallou Sene and their two children, Djili and Rose,
moved to Louisville from West Africa. Soon after their move, the family opened
Chez Seneba, an African Restaurant, named after Khady’s mother, Seneba. The
Senes’ immigration represents a trend in Louisville. According to the Urban
Institute, Louisville has a higher percentage of African immigrants than the national
average (In 2004, 15 percent of immigrants to Louisville were African, compared to
a two percent national average). The Sene family must have realized they
possessed the perfect ingredients for an African restaurant: a customer base that
includes immigrants hungry for home cooking, and a seasoned chef to whom
cooking for a crowd is second-nature.
My companion explorers at Chez Senegal are my two daughters. We choose a
variety of items to share. The lunch portions are larger than expected: a whole
grilled chicken, four beef brochettes, and a platter of lamb and vegetables, each
served with a mound of rice or couscous. The picky eater at my table, my 18-year-
old daughter, proclaims her whole grilled chicken is delicious. One slice into the
breast releases a rub of spices that has been skillfully tucked under the skin before
grilling. The spicy tenderness obviously pleases Liz; her finished chicken looks like
the stripped hull of a wrecked ship.
The beef brochettes and the lamb are moist and tender. The beef is grilled and the
lamb is stewed with vegetables and served on a flavorful bed of brown rice. The
item that most intrigues me is the “onion sauce,” a caramel-hued mound of
chopped onions served on the side of each platter. The brown rice is flavorful
without the onions, since it has been cooked with juices rendered from the stewed
meat and veggies. But when I mix the onions into the rice, the flavor of the rice is
enhanced. Each bite surprises my palate with a variety of flavors: sweet, peppery,
salty. Though the onions seem exotic to me, they are a Senegalese staple:
chopped and sautéed with black pepper, jalapeno and red peppers, Dijon
mustard, olives, a dash of white vinegar and JUMBO — an appropriately named
beef bouillon cube that crumbles easily into sauces.
Chez Seneba’s menu is both exotic and familiar. Though the brochettes, couscous,
onion sauce, and stewed fish are unique to my experience, the vegetables are
commonplace. The explanation for this familiarity is bittersweet. During the slave
trade, a majority of captured Africans were from West Africa: Senegambia and the
Ivory Coast. African cooking techniques were passed down through generations of
enslaved Africans. And we can thank Africa for the common ingredients of
Southern cooking: okra and yams, eggplant, sorghum, and peanuts.
At Chez Seneba, a Euro-American can experience a microcosm of Africa. It is NOT
the decor that feels African; the restaurant is in a strip mall on Bishop Lane across
from the Van Hoose Education Center, next to a Subway sandwich shop. Partly, the
African ambience comes from the names of menu items which are as
unpronounceable as they are delicious. Thiebu Jeun, is whitefish stewed in tomato
sauce with eggplant, carrots, and cabbage. Thiebu Yapp is lamb with vegetables
tomatoes and onion sauce. Maffe is meat cooked with vegetables in peanut sauce.
Bissap is a beverage prepared with lotus flowers, boiled briefly, then steeped in hot
water until the color is cranberry-red.
Another ethnic ingredient that makes me feel I’ve traveled is the sound of foreign
languages. Khady and her daughter, Rose, converse in their native Wokol, and
they speak French to several of the customers who arrive to order take-out.
Several very tall African men gather at a counter, speaking French in friendly
animated tones, while waiting for their orders. Khady says that people from all over
Africa are her customers, though many are from former French colonies. Chez
Seneba seems a community gathering place and a reminder of home.
In the decades since Khady Sene began cooking for her large family, she has
married, raised children, and moved to a country whose customs must seem as
strange to her as 13-year-old cooks, and boys who serve tea, seem to me.
Though her life has changed, her culinary practices have not. Khady Sene
continues to chop, season, stew, and grill ample servings of Senegalese home
cooking for a crowd of sated diners. She has widened her circle of extended family
to include immigrants from the African continent, as well as grateful American
strangers.
Maffé
Beef in natural peanut sauce with vegetables and white rice
Preparation: 45 minutes / Cooking Time: 2 hours
Serves: 6+ People
2 lbs. cubed beef meat
4 tsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 onion or shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Jumbo (or other beef
bouillon base)
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 cups diced roma tomatoes or 1 15-oz can
2 cups beef broth
Salt, to taste
2 peeled sweet potatoes, halved
1 habanero pepper
1 head cabbage – quartered or smaller
2 carrots – peeled & halved
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
Rice — basmati rice (according to directions)
Water
In a bowl marinate the beef with the Dijon mustard, oil, pepper, half onion, garlic, 1
Jumbo, and lemon juice (optional) set aside.
In a heavy or non-stick pan, heat oil over high heat. Add the marinated beef. Sear
until browned. Add tomato paste and stir for about 2 to 3 minutes. Then add diced
tomato. Cook on medium-high heat stirring frequently until oil separates and rises
to the top.
Add beef broth and bring to boil. Add vegetables and simmer 1 hour. Take out
vegetables when cooked. Take some hot liquid in a bowl with the peanut butter and
stir until soft and saucy. Add to pot and stir. Add salt to taste. Place lid on pot and
simmer 20+ minutes. Return vegetables to pot and stir before serving over rice.
Serves 6 people.
Make rice according to package directions. (Servings are large and should be 2-
plus cups per person).
Serve with rice covering plate bottom. Top half of rice with sauce being sure to
include meat and a piece or more of each vegetable.
Spicy Onion Sauce
Preparation: 15 minutes / Cooking: 15 minutes
Serves: 4-6 People
3-4 Medium yellow onions
Vegetable oil — cover bottom of pan
1-2 cloves garlic
1 Jalapeno pepper, sliced
1 tsp. black pepper
Salt, to taste
1 Jumbo (or beef bouillon cube dissolved)
4-6 whole olives
1 tbsp. distilled vinegar
1-2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
Dash of sugar
In a skillet or sauce pan, heat oil over high heat until very hot. Add diced onions
and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, black pepper, jalapeno pepper, olives, Jumbo
and salt. Stir and cook 1-2 minutes. Add vinegar and stir. Reduce heat and cook 5-
10 minutes or until soft. Add mustard and dash of sugar. Stir and simmer until
ready to serve.
Serve Onion Sauce over rice with grilled chicken or meat.
Writer Kimberly Crum can be reached at (kimcrum@iamtodayswoman.com).
By Kimberly Crum • Photos by Ewa Wojtkowska
When she was 13 years old, Khady Sene began
cooking three meals daily for her family of 20 people.
We Americans might have trouble imagining pubescent
girls feeding their families, but it is tradition in Khady’s
native Senegal. The youngest girl in the family cooks,
and the boys make tea.
I imagine Senegalese women and girls in brightly colored
cotton dresses, chatting in their native Wokol, near an
open hearth where fish and vegetables simmer in iron
pots. The girls serve the meal in common bowls. Like
most Africans, Senegalese eat using the right hands.
During the communal meal, the boys pour three servings
of tea into small shot-glass sized glasses; each glass is sweetened with varying
amounts of sugar and mint.
Five years ago, Khady and Fallou Sene and their two children, Djili and Rose,
moved to Louisville from West Africa. Soon after their move, the family opened
Chez Seneba, an African Restaurant, named after Khady’s mother, Seneba. The
Senes’ immigration represents a trend in Louisville. According to the Urban
Institute, Louisville has a higher percentage of African immigrants than the national
average (In 2004, 15 percent of immigrants to Louisville were African, compared to
a two percent national average). The Sene family must have realized they
possessed the perfect ingredients for an African restaurant: a customer base that
includes immigrants hungry for home cooking, and a seasoned chef to whom
cooking for a crowd is second-nature.
My companion explorers at Chez Senegal are my two daughters. We choose a
variety of items to share. The lunch portions are larger than expected: a whole
grilled chicken, four beef brochettes, and a platter of lamb and vegetables, each
served with a mound of rice or couscous. The picky eater at my table, my 18-year-
old daughter, proclaims her whole grilled chicken is delicious. One slice into the
breast releases a rub of spices that has been skillfully tucked under the skin before
grilling. The spicy tenderness obviously pleases Liz; her finished chicken looks like
the stripped hull of a wrecked ship.
The beef brochettes and the lamb are moist and tender. The beef is grilled and the
lamb is stewed with vegetables and served on a flavorful bed of brown rice. The
item that most intrigues me is the “onion sauce,” a caramel-hued mound of
chopped onions served on the side of each platter. The brown rice is flavorful
without the onions, since it has been cooked with juices rendered from the stewed
meat and veggies. But when I mix the onions into the rice, the flavor of the rice is
enhanced. Each bite surprises my palate with a variety of flavors: sweet, peppery,
salty. Though the onions seem exotic to me, they are a Senegalese staple:
chopped and sautéed with black pepper, jalapeno and red peppers, Dijon
mustard, olives, a dash of white vinegar and JUMBO — an appropriately named
beef bouillon cube that crumbles easily into sauces.
Chez Seneba’s menu is both exotic and familiar. Though the brochettes, couscous,
onion sauce, and stewed fish are unique to my experience, the vegetables are
commonplace. The explanation for this familiarity is bittersweet. During the slave
trade, a majority of captured Africans were from West Africa: Senegambia and the
Ivory Coast. African cooking techniques were passed down through generations of
enslaved Africans. And we can thank Africa for the common ingredients of
Southern cooking: okra and yams, eggplant, sorghum, and peanuts.
At Chez Seneba, a Euro-American can experience a microcosm of Africa. It is NOT
the decor that feels African; the restaurant is in a strip mall on Bishop Lane across
from the Van Hoose Education Center, next to a Subway sandwich shop. Partly, the
African ambience comes from the names of menu items which are as
unpronounceable as they are delicious. Thiebu Jeun, is whitefish stewed in tomato
sauce with eggplant, carrots, and cabbage. Thiebu Yapp is lamb with vegetables
tomatoes and onion sauce. Maffe is meat cooked with vegetables in peanut sauce.
Bissap is a beverage prepared with lotus flowers, boiled briefly, then steeped in hot
water until the color is cranberry-red.
Another ethnic ingredient that makes me feel I’ve traveled is the sound of foreign
languages. Khady and her daughter, Rose, converse in their native Wokol, and
they speak French to several of the customers who arrive to order take-out.
Several very tall African men gather at a counter, speaking French in friendly
animated tones, while waiting for their orders. Khady says that people from all over
Africa are her customers, though many are from former French colonies. Chez
Seneba seems a community gathering place and a reminder of home.
In the decades since Khady Sene began cooking for her large family, she has
married, raised children, and moved to a country whose customs must seem as
strange to her as 13-year-old cooks, and boys who serve tea, seem to me.
Though her life has changed, her culinary practices have not. Khady Sene
continues to chop, season, stew, and grill ample servings of Senegalese home
cooking for a crowd of sated diners. She has widened her circle of extended family
to include immigrants from the African continent, as well as grateful American
strangers.
Maffé
Beef in natural peanut sauce with vegetables and white rice
Preparation: 45 minutes / Cooking Time: 2 hours
Serves: 6+ People
2 lbs. cubed beef meat
4 tsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 onion or shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Jumbo (or other beef
bouillon base)
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 cups diced roma tomatoes or 1 15-oz can
2 cups beef broth
Salt, to taste
2 peeled sweet potatoes, halved
1 habanero pepper
1 head cabbage – quartered or smaller
2 carrots – peeled & halved
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
Rice — basmati rice (according to directions)
Water
In a bowl marinate the beef with the Dijon mustard, oil, pepper, half onion, garlic, 1
Jumbo, and lemon juice (optional) set aside.
In a heavy or non-stick pan, heat oil over high heat. Add the marinated beef. Sear
until browned. Add tomato paste and stir for about 2 to 3 minutes. Then add diced
tomato. Cook on medium-high heat stirring frequently until oil separates and rises
to the top.
Add beef broth and bring to boil. Add vegetables and simmer 1 hour. Take out
vegetables when cooked. Take some hot liquid in a bowl with the peanut butter and
stir until soft and saucy. Add to pot and stir. Add salt to taste. Place lid on pot and
simmer 20+ minutes. Return vegetables to pot and stir before serving over rice.
Serves 6 people.
Make rice according to package directions. (Servings are large and should be 2-
plus cups per person).
Serve with rice covering plate bottom. Top half of rice with sauce being sure to
include meat and a piece or more of each vegetable.
Spicy Onion Sauce
Preparation: 15 minutes / Cooking: 15 minutes
Serves: 4-6 People
3-4 Medium yellow onions
Vegetable oil — cover bottom of pan
1-2 cloves garlic
1 Jalapeno pepper, sliced
1 tsp. black pepper
Salt, to taste
1 Jumbo (or beef bouillon cube dissolved)
4-6 whole olives
1 tbsp. distilled vinegar
1-2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
Dash of sugar
In a skillet or sauce pan, heat oil over high heat until very hot. Add diced onions
and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, black pepper, jalapeno pepper, olives, Jumbo
and salt. Stir and cook 1-2 minutes. Add vinegar and stir. Reduce heat and cook 5-
10 minutes or until soft. Add mustard and dash of sugar. Stir and simmer until
ready to serve.
Serve Onion Sauce over rice with grilled chicken or meat.
Writer Kimberly Crum can be reached at (kimcrum@iamtodayswoman.com).
