Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew)
Smoked catfish simmered with eggplant, potato and okra in a spiced tomato and palm oil sauce, served over rice.
Guinean · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 45 min
~618 cal · 11g protein · 101g carbs · 19g fat · 10g fiber · 11g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Konkoé is one of the best-known dishes of Guinea, built around smoked catfish, which many Guineans will tell you is the most popular fish in the country. Coming from the coastal region around Conakry, it the deeply flavoured smoked fish with eggplant, potatoes, carrots and in a red and tomato sauce fired with , then serves the whole fragrant pot over rice.
The smoking is what gives the dish its soul, lending the broth a savoury depth that fresh fish alone cannot, while the melts down to thicken and silken the sauce. Guinean cooks make it properly spicy, and the gives it its characteristic colour and earthy richness. It is honest, warming home cooking rather than restaurant food.
Ladled hot over white rice, konkoé is the kind of one-pot meal families gather around. It carries the flavour of Guinea's rivers and coast, where smoked fish has long been a way to keep the catch and deepen its taste.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- 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 smoked catfish, cut in chunks
1/3 cup red
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, blended
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 eggplant, cubed
3 potatoes, quartered
2 carrots, sliced
6 pods , sliced
1 to 2 pepper
2 bay leaves
1 cube (Maggi)
4 cups cooked white rice, to serve
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Rinse the smoked catfish in warm water and pick out any large bones, then set it aside (or prepare the mushrooms in its place).
2
Warm the palm oil in a large pot, soften the onions and garlic, then stir in the blended tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves and crumbled stock cube and cook down for about 10 minutes into a thick, deep-red sauce.
✎ Chef’s note
Let the tomato base really fry down and darken before adding liquid, that concentrated, slightly caramelised sauce is the backbone of the dish.
3
Add the potatoes, carrots, eggplant and whole Scotch bonnet with a cup of water, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
4
Slide in the smoked catfish (or mushrooms) and the sliced okra and simmer gently for 15 minutes more, until the okra thickens the sauce and the fish is heated through and tender. Season with salt.
✎ Chef’s note
Add the fish late and stir gently so the smoked flesh holds together in the pot rather than breaking up into the sauce.
5
Fish out the Scotch bonnet and bay leaves and serve the stew hot, ladled generously over white rice.
Coastal Guinea (Conakry) home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Conakry. The millet couscous has a name and an occasion: latchiri is a Fulani dish eaten with kossan, curdled milk, at ceremonies. The more distinctly Guinean grain is fonio, grown up in the Fouta Djallon, a tiny fast-cooking cereal that also goes into a cassava and fonio to.
🗺️
Guinea. Fonio from the Fouta Djallon highlands is Guinea's distinctive grain, and latchiri is the Fulani millet couscous eaten with kossan, curdled milk, at ceremonies. Konkoe sauce, made with smoked catfish, is a specifically coastal Guinean speciality, and cassava-leaf sauce with smoked fish and palm oil turns up in every region.
🌍
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 Guinea
Latchiri e KossamHand-rolled maize couscous steamed fine and served with cool, tangy curdled milk, the Fula celebration dish of Guinea.
LafidiA Guinean morning plate: okra and garden-egg eggplant mashed with chili and fermented locust bean, spooned over rice with a slick of red palm oil.
Sauce GomboOkra stewed with red palm oil and smoked fish into a glossy, savory sauce, spooned over rice in the Guinean style.
Browse all Guinea recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Guinea meal
Kinkeliba TeaDrink
Latchiri e KossamDessert
Sauce GomboLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew)?
Smoked catfish simmered with eggplant, potato and okra in a spiced tomato and palm oil sauce, served over rice.
Where does Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew) come from?
Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew) is a Guinean dish from Conakry, Guinea.
Can Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew) 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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 Konkoé (Smoked Catfish Stew) take to make?
About 65 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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