Tcheb Bou Wekh

Saint-Louis variant predating the tomato standard. Wolof «thiéboudienne bou wekh» (literally white thieb) — uses no tomato, the rice colored only by saffron and turmeric. The form is older than the red version; tomato entered Senegalese cooking only after 1900 colonial imports. Cookbook author Anne Conduzorgues' 1989 work documents both.

Restaurant La Linguère in Saint-Louis (since 1968) lists thiébou wekh as the in-house Saint-Louisian specialty; chef Marème Ndoye says she learned it from her grandmother who refused to cook the red version. The 2021 UNESCO file listed both red and white as protected forms. Bou Wekh accounts for under 5% of Dakar restaurant thieb sales.

Pale-yellow rice (turmeric, not red-tomato), fish whole and steamed, broth aromatic with tamarind and parsley. Lighter than red thieb, more delicate — flavor relies on the fish and ferments, no tomato sweetness to lean on. The xoon crust at the bottom is pale gold not dark brown.

Same broken rice + stuffed-fish base as red thieb, but the cooking liquid is fish stock + tamarind water + turmeric + saffron, no tomato. Steam-cook rather than absorb-cook — the broth circulates rather than getting absorbed entirely. The technique is older and more demanding; a single mis-step exposes the missing tomato safety net.