Africa → The Gambia → Banjul
🍢 SNACK
Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce)
Thin rounds of salted, buttery dough pan-fried until crisp and golden and heaped with a peppery sauce of slow-fried onions, the Gambian street snack that, despite its name, holds no fish at all.
Gambian · easy · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 35 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~534 cal · 7g protein · 57g carbs · 31g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Fish ket, from "fish cake", is a Gambian street snack with a joke in its name: there is no fish in it. It is a plain dough of flour, salt and a little fat or water, rested, rolled out and cut into circles, then fried until crunchy and golden, something like a crisp pancake.
The topping is what people queue for. Vendors fry the discs to order and spoon over a sauce of stir-fried onions cooked with oil, pepper and a cube. Other favourite toppings are the same onions stirred through mashed black-eyed beans, or grone soup, smoked fish shredded with raw onion, lemon juice, spices and chilli.
Fish ket is sold in the evening on the streets and above all to schoolchildren, and some families sell it from the front of their compounds.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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 6
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt, plus a pinch for the sauce
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) water, a little more if needed
- 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable oil, for frying
- 4 large onions, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil (for the sauce)
- 1 cube, crumbled
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder, or to taste
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until it disappears. Add the water gradually and knead into a smooth, firm dough, about 5 minutes.
- 2Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- 3Meanwhile make the onion sauce: heat the oil in a pan over medium heat, add the onions and a pinch of salt and fry, stirring often, for about 20 minutes, until soft and golden brown. Stir in the stock cube, black pepper and chilli with a splash of water and cook for 2 minutes more. Keep it warm.
- 4Divide the dough into 12 balls and roll each one out on a floured surface into a thin circle about 12 cm across and 3 mm thick. Prick each circle a few times with a fork.
- 5Heat about 1 cm of oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the discs one or two at a time for about 2 minutes per side, until puffed in places, golden brown and crisp. Drain on paper.✎ Chef’s noteIf the oil is too cool the discs soak it up and turn greasy; a scrap of dough should sizzle at once.
- 6Serve hot, with a spoonful of the onion sauce heaped on each disc.
Gambian street food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Banjul. Benachin is the Gambian one-pot rice, in the same family as Senegalese ceebu jen, and domoda is the groundnut stew that alternates with it. The river runs the length of the country, so freshwater and sea fish both turn up, usually smoked or dried rather than fresh.
🗺️
The Gambia. Supa kanja is the headline dish: okra stewed with palm oil, smoked and dried fish and meat, poured over rice, and thick enough to pull. Benachin, the one-pot rice, sits in the same family as Senegalese ceebu jen, and domoda is the groundnut stew, sometimes spelled domodah. Jute leaves, locust beans and bitter tomato are the pot's other regulars.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from The Gambia
SuperkanjaThe Gambia's rich okra stew with palm oil, smoked fish, and meat, spooned over rice.
TapalapaThe Gambia's daily bread: a crusty, dense baton of mixed millet, maize, and wheat flours, baked in a clay oven and torn open for breakfast.
DomodaThe Gambian groundnut stew: meat simmered in a thick, tangy peanut sauce with tomato and pumpkin, served over rice.
Browse all The Gambia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce)?
Thin rounds of salted, buttery dough pan-fried until crisp and golden and heaped with a peppery sauce of slow-fried onions, the Gambian street snack that, despite its name, holds no fish at all.
Where does Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce) come from?
Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce) is a Gambian dish from Banjul, The Gambia.
Can Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce) 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 Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce) 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 Fish Ket (Gambian Fried Dough Discs with Onion Sauce) take to make?
About 1 h 30 min in all: 25 minutes prep and 35 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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