Casamance Classic · Onion-Lemon Chicken
Poulet Yassa
Photo: Kinesira / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
It's built almost entirely from marinated onions — some home versions call for more onion by weight than chicken.
Chicken is marinated for hours in lemon juice, mustard and chili, then grilled and simmered into a mountain of soft, caramelized onions until the sauce turns deep golden and tangy. It's served over rice and sold by weight at Casamance grill stalls and buvettes.
Why it's made this way: Casamance's fertile soil grows both the citrus and onions the dish depends on, and it later spread nationwide as migrants from the south moved to Dakar over the 20th century.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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