Cassava Leaf Soup
Cassava leaf soup, also known as saka saka or pondu, is a simple yet tasty and substantial soup that is widely consumed in many parts of West and Central Africa, especially in countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia.
In the French-speaking parts of Cameroon, it’s disguised as nwem or kwem – a more rustic version of this dish sometimes made with fresh corn and palm oil, with or without salt (kwem sans sel).
While growing up, I particularly disliked cassava leaf soup, especially the salt-free version. However, when I tasted this Sierra Leone version from my wonderful sister-in-law, I changed my mind. Including dried shrimp, meat, and groundnut paste appealed to all my senses.
What Is Pondu and Saka Saka?
This exotic cassava leaf soup isn’t actually a soup but sort of a stew. It can be prepared with any meat or fish. Most African countries use dried or smoked fish for added flavor. I substituted smoked chicken in this recipe because that is what’s readily available in my neck of the woods. Another good substitute is smoked turkey.
As tasty as this delicacy is, it has its challenges. Both raw cassava root (yuca) and the leaves are toxic when eaten raw. Please check the package to make sure they were properly boiled before adding them to the soup.
How to Make Cassava Leaf Soup
- Cook the meat, strain, make the soup’s flavor base, and add the meat, along with the smoked chicken, back to the pot.
- Simmer, add the prepped cassava leaves, add the shrimp, heat through, and serve over white rice. We also pair it with fufu, pounded yams, and fried plantains. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Pulse fresh, raw cassava leaves in a blender then boil them for a couple of hours and discard the water if you’re lucky enough to have access to them. That will get rid of the bitterness.
- Cassava leaves are available ground and frozen in most African and Filipino stores if you live in the States. A good substitute is frozen chopped spinach if you can’t find them.
- This soup freezes well for 3-4 months or stays fresh in the fridge for 3-4 days, so go ahead and make it ahead if you want.
More Comforting African Recipes to Enjoy
By Imma
This blog post was originally published in January 2014 and has been updated with additional tips and beautiful photos.
Cassava Leaf Soup
Ingredients
- 3 pounds (1.5kg) frozen cassava leaves (thawed)
- 1 pound (450g) beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon (15g) chicken bouillon or Maggi powder
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 cups (480ml) water (more if needed)
- ½-1 cup (120-240ml) red palm oil (see notes)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- ½ cup (25-30g) ground crayfish or dried shrimp
- ½ pound (250g) smoked chicken, turkey, or fish
- 4-5 tablespoons (60-80g) groundnut paste or peanut butter
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper or ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- ½-1 pound (450-900g) shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Thaw, rinse, and drain the cassava leaves, then squeeze the extra moisture out. If the package says they were properly boiled, continue with the recipe. However, if they’ve only been parboiled, you’ll want to boil them for around 30 minutes, then drain the excess moisture before using. If using fresh leaves, pulse them in a blender and boil them for a couple of hours to get the bitterness out.
- Season the meat with salt and Maggi, add it to a large saucepan with an onion, cover with water, and simmer until tender. How long that takes depends on the choice of meat, but plan on at least 1½ hours.
- Turn off the heat, strain the meat, and reserve the stock. You should have 1-2 cups of liquid. Set the meat and stock aside.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the diced onion and crayfish, and sauté until fragrant (1-2 minutes). Add the beef and smoked meat.
- Stir in groundnut paste or peanut butter and scotch bonnet pepper, then add about a cup of stock, and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Toss in the drained cassava leaves and continue cooking for about 25 more minutes.
- Finally, add shrimp if using and cook until it turns pink (3-5 minutes).
- Adjust seasonings and consistency with Maggie, salt, and broth to taste. Serve hot over rice and enjoy.
Tips & Notes:
- It can be prepared with any meat or fish. Most African countries use dried, smoked fish in their soups for added flavor.
- Red palm oil is NOT the controversial palm oil. It has a buttery nuttiness with a pleasant bitterness and slight fruitiness. And while we Africans use a lot, it will still taste great if you reduce it to a couple of tablespoons or even use canola instead.
- Fresh, raw cassava leaves are toxic. Please make sure they’ve been cooked properly before adding them to the soup.
- If you can’t find cassava leaves, chopped spinach is a good substitute. You’ll want to blend it in a food processor for the fine consistency that is distinctive of this soup.
I tried it and it worked!!! Thanks a lot.
Awesome!! So glad you liked it, Cece :)!
After pounding the cassava leave will I boil it and set aside
After pounding , you do not need to boil it. Set aside until needed. You may freeze for later use.
So I am white and my bf is from Sierra Leone… I want to learn how to cook African food for him… My question is, what do you mean by when you say stock?
Hi Stephanie, Stock is the flavored or spiced broth that comes from steaming/boiling meats, chicken etc. It has such great flavor that it often spices up your food without being overly present or pungent. Imaigine boiling a tasty chicken, add onions, salt and any spices you love. Once the chicken boiled, i never throw away the flavorful water, I find ways to use it over and over again. I hope this helps.
I tried this recipe exactly and it came out perfectly. Thank u so much. My husband is from Senegal and I am American Black and he says that I made it the best! I’m so happy. I love spinach and will try it that way as well. I look forward to trying your other recipes as well❣️
Thank you for taking the time to let me know, Madi. So happy you guys love this. Happy New Year! =)
If you don’t have palm oil, coconut oil is a popular substitute. Make sure you rinse your store bought cassava leaf prior to cooking it! You can put it in a bowl, add water to the top of the bowl, and these use a hand held strainer to scoop up the cassava leaves. Also, the easiest way to cook cassava leaf is “one pot”. Season you meat and bring it to boil, add blended sweet onion and habanero peppers, add Maggi, add your oil, add a little peanut butter, add a handful of blended okra (or a couple of spoons of tola if you have some), and add the cassava leaf when your stock simmers down. I like to cook the leaves for longer than 5 mins – about 15 minutes to get the full taste.
Thanks for taking time out to share your thoughts with us. This is a must try for me next time, can’t resist anything coconut.
Do you have any tips about reheating frozen leftover cassava leaf stew
Nothing much. Just it reheats well in the microwave or stove-top.
Thank you Immaculate we eat this kind of food here in Rwanda with beef legs’ meat and we use the small dry fishes for making the compliments combating malnutrition for small kids, let us by Africa and use home grown solution.
I want to test cassava leave but I dont know how to prepare it, if your can kindly sent me the method of how to prepare it .
Do you mean , how to steam it?
Can you explain to me how to prepare cassava leaf
Chop the cassava leaf and slightly pulse, in a food processor or mash with a mortar and pestle .
Liberia and Sierra Leone are in West Africa not Central Africa
Cassava Leaves is one of my favorite! Thanks for sharing, I always love different variations of recipes! In Sierra Leone, we often add some cooked blended okra (just a tad) to make the consistency more firm. In Sierra Leone people generally cook the leaves for over an hour and up to two hours!
Another trick is instead of using palm oil, using regular canola oil, when you do that, you can actually put canned coconut milk in your broth for delicious coconut cassava leaves! Hope you try it out one day 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, Kay! I appreciate it. Will give it a try one of these days. I love anything coconut!
I can’t find cassava leaf or palm oil I live in a little town
Use vegetable or canola oil instead.
This is not the traditional salone way you don’t use corn or shrimp yours looks a little too watery and it’s supposed to have habernero peppers and never ever use spinach in replacement that is a whole different dish then
Thanks for sharing your insight. This dish has different variations and I personally love mine with shrimps.
Yes. You can not substitute cassava leaf with any other leaf. You can use other oils if you don’t have palm oil. And using smoked fish it’s delicious. And don’t forget peanut butter which does not contain sugar or salt.
Actually, you will be surprised to know that the spinach replacement tastes and looks just the same. Long time ago, when cassava leaves was not available to us, we substituted with spinach. Try it, it’s delicious.
Thank you! My husband is Liberian and I bet he can’t wait for me to try making this on my own! It’s says in the instructions to use frozen cassava leafs! I have that, but when you say to add the cassava leafs to the pot is it still frozen or thawed? Thank you
Hi abigail, It’s thawed, squeeze out the water and add to the pot. Hope he enjoys it as much as we do. Happy Cooking
I need some pepper soup cassava leaf soup and peanut butter soup asap. I’m black American bestfriend Liberian/Sudanese she moved away. I miss achiki fish head and all lol. I cant cook it I tried. :_
Wish I could send them all to you. 🙂
Cook the leaves longer with the lid off to reduce the cyanogen content.
Thanks for that one, I’ve got to try it out today, but what I have available are fresh cassava leaves will I follow the same procedure? It’s my first time trying it out and I want it to be just right, and what can be a side dish for this soup
Rice or any starchy side(plantains, cassava, fufu) works well.
Thanks for that one, got to try it out tomorrow, but what I have available are fresh cassava leaves, will I follow the same procedure,? it’s my first time trying out the dish and I want it to be just right
Yes, fresh cassava would work as well. Or if you have a food processor you might want to pulse a couple of times to make it tender. Hope this helps!
This dish is common NOT in Central, but WEST Africa ( where Sierra Leone and Liberia are located). Thanks, Ali.
Hi Ali! Thanks for taking some time to share.
It’s also common in Congo and East Africa but it’s made slightly differently. It’s called Pondu or Sombe in those regions. All forms are good. I learned to make it from various Friends from East africa. Some people add eggplant, green bell pepper, and green onions too which is delicious
Only time I’ve ever found cassava leaf is in the freezer at Asian grocery stores. BUT where do you get palm oil??! And do you use red palm oil? My Liberian in laws make this stew super spicy and I thought it was due to the oil used. Hoping to get the oil and make a big pot this weekend. Leftovers freeze well and are great to have to reheat any time.
Hi Kristen ! You can find palm oil in most African markets, depending on location. If you can’t locate an African market then get it from amazon. If all fails just use canola oil.
I live in the UK, but wanted to try this recipe. It’s really hard to find Cassava leaves on sale here. Can you recommend an alternative I can substitute them with?
Spinach would work as well here or any greens
I tried this soup using chicken breast as my meat no seafood. It is delicious!!!
Awesome!! Glad to hear it worked out well for you Ronique
You mention stock later on during actual cooking process, how much stock will i need and are you referring to a liquid ( like beef/chicken stock)
Yes I am- either works. About 1/2 cup or more . Start with half cup and adjust as needed- It should be thick not soupy.
Thanks for share your recipes
What a blessing they are for me, when I cook this dish my kids are always full.
Thanks a lot
So happy the kids enjoy it too!
Is groundnuts peanut butter puree just regular peanut butter from the store?
Yes it is- regular peanut butter works. All natural is best.
This recipe looks authentic. My Sierra Leonean mother gave me some homemade ogiri. Can I use this instead of Maggi cubes?
Hi Sally, yes you can use your ogiri 🙂
I tried this recipe and it came out delicious! Thanks to you, I no longer have to spend $20 for this stew each time I have a craving. It was becoming an expensive addiction. Lol
I substituted sausage for beef, thai red chili for a bonnet pepper, and added some eggplant with coconut milk. It is delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe. It is very tasty!
your substitutions are making my mouth water- thanks for the feedback!