Ravitoto recipe

Malagasy stew of cassava leaves pounded to a green paste in a mortar, then simmered slowly with fatty pork.

2 hours and 5 minutesmedium10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 800 g pounded cassava leaves
• 600 g pork belly
• 1 onion
• 4 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp black pepper
• 300 ml water

How to make Ravitoto

1. If you have fresh cassava leaves, strip the stems and pound 800 g in a mortar until you get a coarse green paste. That pounding is literally the name of the dish; chopping them gives a different texture. Frozen pounded leaves from an African or Malagasy grocer are what most households use.
2. Boil the pounded leaves in 1 L of salted water for 30 minutes, then drain. Cassava leaves are never eaten raw or briefly cooked.
3. Brown 600 g of pork belly cut into 3 cm cubes in 2 tablespoons of oil. Fatty pork, not lean shoulder: the fat is what carries the leaves.
4. Add 1 chopped onion, 4 crushed garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon of grated ginger, and cook 3 minutes.
5. Stir in the drained leaves with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and 300 ml of water. Cover and simmer on low for 1 hour, stirring now and then, until the pork gives way and the mixture is almost dry.
6. For the coconut version, ravitoto sy voanio, pour in 250 ml of coconut milk for the last 20 minutes and let it reduce.
7. Serve with plain rice and a raw tomato rougail on the side.

Get Copper on the App Store

More dishes from Madagascar →