Cassava leaves recipe

Sierra Leone's national dish: cassava leaves pounded to a paste and cooked down for an hour with palm oil, beef and smoked fish.

2 hours and 35 minutesmedium10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 500 g cassava leaves
• 500 g stewing beef
• 250 g smoked fish
• 120 ml palm oil
• 4 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 onion
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 1 bouillon cube
• 1 tsp salt
• 750 ml water

How to make Cassava leaves

1. Pound 500 g of cassava leaves in a mortar until they become a fine green paste. Chopping is not a substitute: the pounding is what gives the stew its texture. Frozen pounded leaves from an African grocery work too.
2. Season 500 g of stewing beef with 1 chopped onion, 1 bouillon cube and 1 tsp of salt, then brown it in a pot with 2 tbsp of palm oil.
3. Pour in 750 ml of water and simmer covered for 45 minutes, until the beef is tender.
4. Flake 250 g of smoked fish, remove the bones, and add it to the pot. Simmer 10 minutes.
5. Stir in the pounded leaves and 120 ml more palm oil. Cook uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring often, until the leaves darken and the oil rises to the surface.
6. Loosen 4 tbsp of peanut butter with a ladle of broth, stir it back in and simmer 15 minutes.
7. Drop in 1 whole scotch bonnet, simmer 10 minutes, then fish it out. Check the salt.
8. Serve over white rice.

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