This dish is one of my childhood favorites. Every time my parents or I make it, I’m taken back to Saturdays on the family patio, hearing, smelling, and salivating as I watched the cacusso on the grill, wondering which one was going to be mine. Mufete is one of Angola’s beloved dishes, and in my family, it was usually at the center of Saturday family gatherings. The dish typically features a grilled fish topped with a diced onion and hot pepper mix, palm oil beans, boiled cassava, plantain, and/or sweet potato as sides. This is how I make it:

Ingredients

• one whole fish, in this case, cacusso (tilapia)

Fish Seasoning

• fresh garlic
• fresh ginger
• whole peppercorns
• bay leaf
• coarse sea salt
• lemon juice

Molho de Cebola (fish topping)

• white onion
• fresh garlic
• piri piri or hot pepper of choice
• tomato (optional)
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt

Palm Oil Beans

• palm oil
• white beans
• garlic
• onion
• salt
• black pepper

Bean topping

• farinha musseque- fermented, ground & roasted cassava meal

Root Vegetable Sides

• cassava
• plantain
• sweet potato

Directions

Scale, gut, clean, and score fish. Grind seasoning ingredients. Spread seasoning evenly onto the fish, pushing the paste into all crevices. Cover and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Grill the fish. I made this recipe in the winter, so I low-broiled it in the oven. It’s not quite the flavor you’d get from grilling, but it’s still delicious.

Mince garlic, dice onion, tomato, hot pepper, and finely chop cilantro. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Mix and set aside.

Soak beans overnight. Boil in salty water until tender enough to mash with fingers. In a separate pot, sauté minced garlic and diced onion in palm oil. Add cooked beans and a bay leaf. Mix, taste, and add salt if needed. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens.

Peel, cut into large chunks, and boil plantain and sweet potato in salt water until fork tender.

It’s time to plate it all up. Top the fish with molho de cebola, top the beans with farinha musseque (not pictured), and add sweet potatoes and plantain. Enjoy!