Saka saka recipe

Pounded cassava leaves cooked two hours in red palm oil until the paste turns dark, thick and glossy.

2 hours and 5 minuteseasy10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 500 g pounded cassava leaves
• 150 ml red palm oil
• 200 g smoked fish
• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 3 clove garlic
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 chili pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 1000 ml water

How to make Saka saka

1. Put 500 g of pounded cassava leaves, sold frozen as saka saka or pondu, into a large pot with 1 L of water. Fresh leaves must be pounded in a mortar first; chopping them will never give the paste texture the dish depends on.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered 1 hour, stirring and topping up with hot water. This long cooking is also what makes the leaves safe to eat.
3. Add 1 sliced onion, 1 sliced leek and 3 crushed garlic cloves and cook 15 minutes more.
4. Stir in 150 ml of red palm oil; its colour and flavour are the dish, and a neutral oil turns it into something else.
5. Add 200 g of flaked smoked fish, 1 whole chilli and, if you want it richer, 3 tablespoons of peanut butter, then simmer 30 minutes.
6. Season with salt and cook uncovered a final 15 minutes until the pondu is thick and glossy and no water pools on the surface.
7. Serve hot with fufu, rice or chikwangue.

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