Sierra Leone

Cassava Leaves in Palava Sauce

Author EU Delegation to Sierra Leone and Ambassador Tom Vens

Difficulty

Intro

You can hardly find a Sierra Leonean who doesn’t love this dish, made with cassava leaves, rich in Vitamins B and C. In preparation for cooking, the leaves are washed, then either pounded very finely, bruised with a pestle and mortar, or blended. The leaves are then added to palava sauce.

This recipe was kindly contributed by the EU Delegation to Sierra Leone and cooked with great pleasure by Ambassador Tom Vens

Ingredients \ 4 pax

2 bundles of cassava leaves
0.5 kg meat
2 dried fish
0.25 litres of palm, coconut or vegetable oil
half a cup of peanut butter
1 tablespoon of Ogiri (fermented sesame seeds)
2 large onions
2 red peppers
3 okra
2 stock cubes
2 cups water
Garnish:
6 okra
3 bitter balls (small African eggplants)
6 red peppers

Instructions

Cut up the meat and put in a saucepan with 1 stock cube, ground pepper, onions and water. Cook for about 15 minutes. Wash and grind the cassava leaves. Add the ground leaves to the ingredients in the saucepan and simmer for about 10 minutes. (until the colour of the leaves change from bright green). Add palm oil and simmer again for about 10 minutes or until the meat is tender. Mix peanut butter with a little water and add to the sauce, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Grind the okra into a paste and add to the sauce. Flake the fish and add to the sauce. Season with a stock cube, cover and simmer gently until most of the water has evaporated. Add a pinch of salt if necessary.
Serve with rice. Boil the okra, bitter balls and red pepper to garnish.

You can hardly find a Sierra Leonean who doesn’t love this dish, made with cassava leaves, rich in Vitamins B and C

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