🥙 LUNCH
Nashif
Ground beef sautéed with tomato, onion, and warm spices into a quick, savory dish eaten with bread or rice in N'Djamena.
Chadian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 25 min
~397 cal · 32g protein · 12g carbs · 24g fat · 3g fiber · 5g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Nashif is a popular quick dish in Chad, especially around the capital N'Djamena, a savory sauté of minced or finely chopped beef cooked down with tomato, onion, and garlic. Its Arabic-influenced name reflects the Sahelian and Middle Eastern currents that run through Chadian cooking north of the great rivers.
Seasoned with cumin, coriander, and a lively kick of hot pepper, the beef is cooked until browned and richly flavored, the tomato reducing to cling to the meat. It is fast, satisfying food, scooped up with bread or spooned over rice, the sort of everyday lunch found in Chadian homes and small eateries where a good, quick plate is what people want.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 1 lb ground beef
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tbsp cumin and coriander
- 1 hot pepper, minced
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- 1Brown the beef in the oil, breaking it up, until it takes on color.
- 2Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook until soft.
- 3Stir in the tomato, spices, and hot pepper and cook until the tomato reduces and clings to the meat, about 12 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteLet the mixture cook past the watery stage so it turns savory and slightly caramelized, not soupy.
- 4Season with salt and serve with bread or over rice.
Chadian home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
N'Djamena. Boule is called aiyash by Chadian Arabs, and it is the same idea either way, millet or sorghum flour cooked stiff and shaped by hand. The sweet version, la bouillie, is thinner and eaten at breakfast, and dried okra and dried fish carry the pantry through the dry season.
🗺️
Chad. La bouillie is the sweet counterpart, a thin millet porridge taken at breakfast, sometimes with milk or tamarind. The country runs from Saharan desert in the north through savanna to the wetter south, and the cooking follows that line, dates and dried meat at the top, millet and okra in the middle, fish from Lake Chad and the rivers below.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Chad
DarabaA silky Chadian okra-and-greens stew enriched with peanut butter and tomato, eaten with millet.
KisserChadian sourdough crepes: thin, tangy fermented millet pancakes griddled soft and lacy, torn and dipped into sauce or eaten with sugar.
Bouillie de MilChad's smooth millet breakfast porridge, simmered sweet and finished with a splash of milk, gentle enough for dawn and for small children.
Browse all Chad recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Chad meal
Bili-BiliDrink
Le Ouaddaï (Fried Millet Fingers)Dessert
DarabaDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Nashif?
Ground beef sautéed with tomato, onion, and warm spices into a quick, savory dish eaten with bread or rice in N'Djamena.
Where does Nashif come from?
Nashif is a Chadian dish from N'Djamena, Chad.
Can Nashif be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nashif recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Nashif safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Nashif take to make?
About 40 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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