By YUKI KAWANO/ Staff Writer
September 21, 2023 at 08:30 JST
Thieboudienne (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)
Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
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After moving to Italy at when he was 19 and then to France and Britain, Koji Sato’s interest in Buddhism took him to Bangkok in his mid-20s.
He began working at a cafe-style restaurant and went on to win an award in Thailand. He even appeared in magazines and on TV.
He also made new discoveries in Thailand.
Since his downtown apartment lacked a stove, he would routinely borrow a tabletop gas cooker from the neighbors when he wished to cook at home. He recalls that instead of using many cooking utensils, he would often make one-pan dishes.
There was a one-pan dish he came to know. At that time, Sato was working as a disc jockey at a restaurant serving African food. In the kitchen, his Senegalese friend’s mother taught him various dishes such as Thieboudienne, a local dish from Senegal.
Vegetables are added to the pot and simmered with tomato paste and chili pepper. Once the soup is done, the vegetables are removed and the fish is added.
The fish is fragrant since it has been stuffed with grated parsley, garlic and coriander. When the fish is done, rice is finally added to the soup and cooked until it becomes like a porridge.
One of the restaurants Sato runs is called Poku bindaru taberu fukudaitoryo, literally translated as “The vice president who eats pork vindaloo.”
Pork vindaloo is a curry originating in Goa on the west coast of India that was formerly a Portuguese territory.
“The art of the one-pan dish I learned from Thieboudienne was the inspiration for opening the restaurant,” says Sato.
At the restaurant, located in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, the curry to be served that day is cooked in a large pot that is about 30 centimeters tall.
Sato says the way Thieboudienne is cooked, where the ingredients are simmered and then removed from the pot, was eye-opening.
Boiling the uncooked rice as if “letting them dance” is key.
He says the dish turns out equally good if chicken is used instead of fish or seafood such as shrimp and squid are added.
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Born in Saitama Prefecture in 1974, Koji Sato is the owner-chef of a Portuguese restaurant. After training in Italy and other places, he returned to Japan and opened Cristiano’s near Yoyogi Park in Tokyo in 2010. He runs six restaurants and shops.
BASIC COOKING METHOD
Main Ingredients (Serves 2)
100 grams filleted Japanese sea perch (suzuki), 5 grams parsley, 1 clove garlic, 130 grams onion, 100 grams carrot, 100 grams potato, 4 chili pepper pods, 50 grams tomato puree, 1 and 1/2 tsp salt, 150 grams uncooked rice, some coriander, olive oil and vinegar to taste
1. Finely chop parsley and garlic. Cut carrot, potato and onion into bite-size pieces.
2. Make incision in the center of the fillet and stuff with parsley and garlic.
3. Toast both sides of chili pepper pods in frying pan until they brown.
4. Add (3), carrot, potato, onion, tomato puree and salt to the pot. Pour water that is just enough to cover the ingredients and simmer on medium heat.
5. When vegetables are cooked, remove them from the pot, add (2) and simmer on medium heat.
6. Remove the fish once it is cooked. Add rice to the pot without rinsing. Add water so the liquid is about twice the amount of rice and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes.
7. Serve (6) with fish and the vegetables that had been set aside. Serve with coriander, olive oil and vinegar to taste.
About 440 kcal and 4.7 grams salt per portion
(Nutrient calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University)
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