Saka saka (Congolese Cassava Leaves)

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Saka saka (Congolese Cassava Leaves)

Saka saka (Cassava Leaves) is a traditional Congolese recipe for a classic dish of cassava leaves and spinach cooked in red palm oil and peanut butter flavoured with chillies and onions. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Congolese version of: Cassava Leaves (Saka saka).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

100 minutes

Total Time:

120 minutes

Serves:

4–6

Rating:

Tags : Chilli Recipes Vegetarian Recipes Vegetable Recipes Congo Recipes

Ingredients:

3 packages of frozen cassava leaves, chopped (or 1.5kg fresh, chopped, cassava leaves) [or kale, collard greens, Savoy cabbage, turnip greens or similar with stems removed]
1 package (250g) of frozen spinach (or fresh)
2 green bell peppers (cleaned and finely chopped)
1 Scotch Bonnet chilli, finely chopped
4 small onions, sliced into rings
1 large red onion, roughly chopped
1 large red onion cut into rings
6 large cloves of garlic, mashed
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
360ml red palm oil (or 360ml groundnut oil + 2 tbsp paprika)
120ml peanut butter
1l water

Method:

In a large pan, add all the ingredients except for the palm oil, peanut butter and the red onion rings. The water should just cover all the ingredients (add more if necessary). Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover. Continue cooking until the cassava leaves are soft (this can take 2 hours or more). Add more water and continue cooking until the cassava leaves are done.

Once the cassava leaves are done, take the pot off the heat and ensure you have about 250ml of liquid left (add water if you don't have enough liquid). Meanwhile, mix the peanut butter with some oil to soften it. Pour this over the vegetables and return the pan to the heat. Allow to heat through and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the remaining red oil and cook for a further 10 minutes. Serve with FuFu, boiled cassava, boiled yam or rice.