I, like a lot of the diaspora, dream of it after a long time of eating European food, and when I go home to visit my folks, there is always a big pot of these green leaves bubbling away with delicious red palm oil, just waiting to be spooned onto a bowl of rice. This is heaven for me, sitting on the veranda in the warmth, with my family, eating Cassava Leaf Stew. So, back here it the UK, I always try and recapture these flavours, and cook up great vats of it whenever any other Sierra Leonean comes to visit. Then we sit down and talk about home. Oh, the absolutely gorgeous smell of the perfectly cooked Cassava Leaf stew is beyond compare.
One of the main things about making Cassava Leaf Soup in the UK, that I found, is that a blender makes all the difference. Back home, the onions, chilli, the aubergines are all pounded together in a big pestle and mortar (mata wodo as we call it). Here you can just chuck it in the blender and a few minutes later you get the lovely thick puree. Golly that really makes everything easier.
Cassava Leaf Stew Tools
Ingredients to make Sierra Leonean Cassava Leaves
Just a few notes on the ingredients of Cassava Leaves with a few tips for substitution. The main ingredient is the Cassava Leaf mince. Then you have palm oil. Onion, chilli and aubergine blended together make the lovely thick sauce base. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, check out my disclosure. Here are some of the items you will need to make this recipe.
Pot. Knife. Cooking Spoon. Cutting board. Blender. Measuring jugs or cups. Measuring teaspoons. Bowls with covers.
For storing your leftover food.
You need flakes of dried smoked fish but can easily substitute in dried crayfish powder and I have seen people use smoked poultry instead. You need peanut butter which apart from flavour also helps to thicken the sauce, and some stock cubes and salt and pepper to taste. Beef and chicken are optional, I prefer using beef, which is first seasoned and steamed and the resulting flavoured water is used in the sauce.
How to Cook Cassava Leaves Sauce – A Tutorial
So guys here is how to make Cassava Leaf soup step-by-step
Benefits of Cassava Leaves
Cassava leaves are high in protein (100g of cassava leaves contain up to 7g of protein) comparable to that of fresh eggs They are high in dietary fibre. They contain a good range of mineral and vitamins (2g/100g of leaves) that surpass most legumes (except soya beans). They are gluten-free.
Where to buy Cassava Leaves
If you live in Africa, then lucky, lucky you. You just pop over to the market for a big old bunch of Cassava Leaves to take home and pound or grind. However, for the rest of us, you would have to head to your local ethnic market and buy already minced or pounded Cassava Leaf from either the fridge or the freezer section.
What is Cassava Leaf
The dish uses cassava leaves as a base which are the leaves of the cassava plant. However, you can use almost any other green leaves to make something similar. In Africa, we also cook sweet potato leaves like this, and in the UK, when I haven’t been able to find cassava leaves, I have used finely chopped spinach, and it has turned out just fine. Cassava Leaves – red stem or white stem. The red stem Cassava Leaves are the ones you want for cooking this sauce. Both the stem and the tuber (cassava or manioc) are really good for eating. The whited stemmed cassava leaves are not so good for eating as they are bitter and tougher and the root is better for making eats like cassava porridge fufu.
What is Cassava?
If you’re wondering ‘what is cassava?’ it is a woody shrub that is highly drought tolerant. The starchy, tuberous root is eaten in many parts of the world for its carbohydrate content. Of course, the leaves can also be eaten, as you can see in this recipe. Cassava is also called yuca, Brazilian arrowroot, etc. UK markets you can get this at include Brixton, Peckham and Dalston markets.
Need More Cassava Recipes
Well, when you’re done trying this soup, try my delicious cassava cake recipe. Post first published Sept 2017. African flavours – is the spot on my blog where I share traditional Sierra Leonean recipes, African recipes and African fusion recipes. Thank you for reading my Cassava Leaf recipe post. And please visit again as I continue dreaming up recipes, traditional African recipes, African fusion recipes, Sierra Leone recipes, travel plans and much more for you. Thanks for reading Recipes from a Pantry, UK food blog.
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