Africa → Côte d’Ivoire → Abidjan (Lagunes)
🥙 LUNCH
Attiéké Poisson
Fermented cassava couscous served with grilled fish and a fresh onion-tomato relish, Côte d'Ivoire's national plate.
Ivorian · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min
~923 cal · 70g protein · 120g carbs · 15g fat · 9g fiber · 5g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Attiéké is the national dish of Côte d'Ivoire, a light, fluffy made from , grated , and pairing it with grilled fish is the everyday classic. Sold from maquis (open-air eateries) across Abidjan, it is fresh, tangy, and endlessly satisfying.
The attiéké, faintly sour from its fermentation and steamed until fluffy, is the perfect foil to a whole fish, often tilapia, seasoned and grilled until the skin crisps. Alongside comes a fresh relish of raw onion, tomato, and chili dressed with a little oil and cube, plus fried . Light, clean, and full of flavour, it is the taste of an Ivorian lunch by the roadside.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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
- 2 lb whole fish (tilapia), cleaned
- 4 cups attiéké ( )
- 2 onions, sliced
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 chili
- 3 tbsp oil and cube
Instructions
- 1Season the fish and grill until the skin is crisp and the flesh cooked through.
- 2Steam or warm the attiéké until fluffy and hot.✎ Chef’s noteSteam the attiéké rather than boiling it, so it stays light and separate; its faint sourness balances the grilled fish.
- 3Make the relish: toss the raw onion, tomato, and chili with a little oil and crumbled stock cube.
- 4Serve the fish over the attiéké with the fresh relish and fried plantain.
Ivorian maquis tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Abidjan (Lagunes). The maquis is a format more than a restaurant: open air, plastic chairs, a grill and a short list. Garba, attieke with fried tuna, onion and chilli, is the standing street plate here, and the older partner for attieke was kedjenou, chicken cooked sealed in a pot with almost no added liquid.
🗺️
Côte d’Ivoire. Kedjenou is cooked without stirring. Chicken or guinea fowl goes into a canari, a sealed clay pot, with tomato, onion, ginger and chilli and no added liquid, and the pot is shaken from time to time rather than opened, so everything cooks in the juices it gives up. It is served with attieke or rice.
🌍
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 Côte d’Ivoire
Kedjenou de PouletChicken slow-cooked sealed in a pot with peppers, tomato, and aromatics, with no added water, cooking in all its own juices.
Bouillie d'ArachideA creamy Ivorian peanut-and-millet breakfast porridge sweetened and scented with nutmeg.
Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes)Small diamonds of fresh coconut and flour fried until crisp at the edges and fragrant, an Abidjan street sweet.
Browse all Côte d’Ivoire recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue, Steamer.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Côte d’Ivoire meal
GnamankoudjiDrink
Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes)Dessert
Kedjenou de PouletDinner
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Attiéké Poisson?
Fermented cassava couscous served with grilled fish and a fresh onion-tomato relish, Côte d'Ivoire's national plate.
Where does Attiéké Poisson come from?
Attiéké Poisson is an Ivorian dish from Abidjan (Lagunes), Côte d’Ivoire.
Can Attiéké Poisson be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Attiéké Poisson 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 Attiéké Poisson 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 Attiéké Poisson take to make?
About 45 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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