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Marou we Hout (Mauritanian Spiced Fish & Broken Rice)

Name: Marou we Hout (Mauritanian Spiced Fish & Broken Rice)
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 95 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Mauritania
Ingredients: 1000 g white grouper or sea bass steaks; 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley and cilantro blend, packed; 6 clove garlic; 1 piece green bird's eye chili; 80 ml vegetable oil; 2 piece onions, blended to a purée; 4 tbsp tomato paste; 1200 ml water; 2 tbsp tamarind paste diluted in 50ml warm water; 300 g vegetable assortment (cassava chunk, half cabbage, carrot); 500 g broken jasmine rice, rinsed thoroughly; 1 tbsp salt

Steamed broken jasmine rice simmered in a spiced tamarind-tomato fish broth topped with herb-stuffed white grouper.

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fishriceone-potseafood

The story

Mauritania's coastal national dish shares roots with Senegalese Ceebu Jën but carries distinct Moorish nuances, using dried hibiscus (bissam), sour tamarind, and local white fish like thiof (grouper). Fish steaks are deep-slit and stuffed with 'roof'—an intensely pungent green herb, garlic, and chili paste.

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