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ChopJollof
A wide pan of sliced onions going from white to deep amber under low heat.
TechniqueSenegal10:24

Breaking down yassa onions

There is no shortcut. Yassa depends on the onions becoming almost marmalade — sweet, melting, dark. Rushing them with high heat gives you caramelised onions, which is a different dish entirely.

Steps

  1. Slice onions pole to pole, not across — they hold their shape as they cook down.

  2. Salt generously, rest 20 minutes, drain the liquid that weeps out.

  3. Cook on low with peanut oil, undisturbed, for the first 25 minutes.

  4. Stir only when the bottom begins to take color. Keep going until deeply amber — about 90 minutes total.

  5. Deglaze with mustard, lemon, and stock at the very end.

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