COPPERWhat is the national dish of Sierra Leone?
Sierra Leone has no national dish fixed by law, but cassava leaves is the one most often named, including by the national tourism board. It is a stew of young cassava leaves pounded to a fine paste and cooked down in red palm oil with beef, smoked fish and hot pepper, then served over white rice.
What is cassava leaves?
Cassava leaves is a stew, not a side of greens. The tenderest leaves of the cassava plant, the same plant whose root is pounded into fufu, are washed, then pounded very finely or bruised in a mortar and shredded before cooking. They go into a red palm oil sauce with onion, pepper, fish and meat.
Sierra Leone's national tourism board puts it first on its list of dishes every visitor should try, under the heading "Cassava Leaves – The National Dish", and describes it as a staple in almost every household. The encyclopedia entry on Sierra Leonean cuisine, citing Fran Osseo-Asare's Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa (2005), also notes that it has been called the national dish. No law or decree makes it official.
What goes into cassava leaves?
The base is always the same: leaves, red oil, a meat and a smoked fish. Our cassava leaves recipe uses:
- Cassava leaves: 500 g, pounded to a fine green paste. Frozen pounded leaves from an African grocery work too.
- Red palm oil: added in two stages. Coconut oil is sometimes used instead.
- Stewing beef: browned with onion and a bouillon cube, then simmered until tender.
- Smoked fish: flaked and boned. The tourism board's version also adds dried shrimps.
- Peanut butter: loosened with a ladle of broth before it goes in.
- Scotch bonnet: dropped in whole and lifted out after 10 minutes, so it flavours without burning.
How cassava leaves is made
Pounding comes first, and chopping is not a substitute: the pounding is what gives the stew its texture. The beef is browned in palm oil and simmered covered in 750 ml of water for 45 minutes, then the smoked fish goes in for 10 minutes.
The leaves are stirred in with more palm oil and cooked uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring often, until they darken and the oil rises to the surface. That floating oil is the sign the stew is done. Peanut butter follows for 15 minutes, then the whole pepper for 10. Count a little over two hours from start to finish.
Outside West Africa, the tourism board's own recipe suggests blending frozen spinach when cassava leaves cannot be found.
What is served with cassava leaves?
Rice. It is the most commonly eaten food in Sierra Leone, served at virtually every meal, and many Sierra Leoneans consider a meal incomplete without it. Cassava leaves is ladled over plain white rice, and the tourism board notes it is also eaten with fufu.
It is one of several "toppings" that go over the daily rice:
- Cassava leaves
- Potato leaves
- Krain krain (jute leaves)
- Okra soup
- Fried fish
- Groundnut stew
Other dishes to know from Sierra Leone
Groundnut soup is the other great Sierra Leonean stew: chicken simmered in groundnut paste with tomato and hot pepper until the peanut oil rises to the surface, eaten over rice. The tourism board says it goes very well alongside cassava leaves.
Jollof rice is the dish some guides name as the national dish instead. Sierra Leone is one of the countries that compete over who makes the best jollof; its version often uses tomato paste rather than red palm oil, and our recipe boils lamb first, fries it, then cooks the rice in the reserved broth.
Across the border, cassava leaf and palava sauce are also everyday stews; see the national dish of Liberia. You will find all three dishes on our page about the food of Sierra Leone, and the wider region in our guide to West African food.
The recipes
- Cassava leaves🇸🇱 Sierra Leone · 2 hours and 35 minutes
Groundnut soup🇸🇱 Sierra Leone · 1 hour and 25 minutes
Jollof rice🇸🇱 Sierra Leone · 2 hours and 10 minutes
Questions people ask
Is cassava leaves the official national dish of Sierra Leone?
No law makes it official, but it is the dish most often called the national dish, including by Sierra Leone's national tourism board.
Is jollof rice the national dish of Sierra Leone?
Some food guides say so, but most sources, including the tourism board, give that title to cassava leaves. Jollof is a celebration dish shared across West Africa.
What is served with cassava leaves?
White rice, almost always. It can also be eaten with fufu, the pounded cassava dough.
Can you make cassava leaves with spinach?
Yes. Sierra Leone's tourism board suggests blended frozen spinach when cassava leaves are unavailable, though frozen pounded cassava leaves from an African grocery are closer to the real thing.
What is plasas?
Plasas is a Sierra Leonean stew of leafy greens such as potato leaves, spinach or krain krain, cooked with palm oil, groundnuts and meat or fish, and eaten with rice or fufu.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Sierra Leone: 12 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Benin?
- What is the national dish of Burkina Faso?
- What is the national dish of Cabo Verde?
- What is the national dish of Côte d'Ivoire?
- What is the national dish of The Gambia?