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 Central Africa especially in countries like Sierra Leone, and Liberia.
In the French speaking parts of Cameroon, it is disguised as Nwem – a more rustic version of this dish sometimes made with fresh corn, palm oil, with or without salt (Kwem sans sel).
Growing up I particularly disliked, kwem, was just not appealing to me, especially the salt less version. When I first tasted this Sierra Leone version from my wonderful sister in law, Mary. It was amazingly good –the inclusion of dried shrimp, meat and groundnut paste appealed to all my senses.
This exotic, cassava leaf soup is not actually a soup but sort of a stew. Can be prepared with any meat or fish. Most African countries use dry fish (smoked fish) in their soups for added flavor. I substitute smoked chicken in this recipe because that is what is readily available in my neck of the woods. Another good substitute is smoked turkey.
Cassava leaf is available ground and frozen in most African, Pilipino stores, if you are leaving abroad and want to purchase it .A good substitute would be – chopped spinach, you would have to blend it in a food processor for a fine consistency that is so distinctive of this soup.
Serve over white rice.
Enjoy
Cassava Leaf Soup
Ingredients
- 3 pounds frozen cassava leaves
- 1 pound beef cut in bite size pieces
- ½ pound smoked chicken,turkey, fish
- 1 medium onion chopped
- ½ - 1 cup palm oil I used ½ palm oil and half canola oil
- 1/2 cup ground cray fish dried shrimps
- 4-5 tablespoon ground groundnuts peanut butter puree
- 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon or Maggie powder
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
- 1/2 - 1 pound shrimp optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, season meat with salt, Maggi and onions and boil until tender, depending on the choice of meat. You should have at least 1-2 cups of stock. Remove the meat and beef stock, reserve
- Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat , add onions and crayfish l, sauté until fragrant about 1-2 minutes. Add beef and or / smoked meat .
- Stir in peanut butter or groundnut paste, then add stock about a cup cook for another 5 minutes.
- Throw in the drained cassava leaves and continue cooking for about 25 more minutes.
- Finally if using shrimp add shrimp - cook until shrimp turns pink about 3-5 minutes.
- Adjust seasonings (Maggie, salt, soup consistency with water and oil) to taste
- Serve warm over rice
Tips & Notes:
- Can be prepared with any meat or fish. Most African countries use dry fish (smoked fish) in their soups for added flavor.
- If you can't find cassava leaves, a good substitute would be chopped spinach. You would have to blend it in a food processor for a fine consistency that is so distinctive of this soup.
Nutrition Information:
This recipe is simple to follow . I will try it.
Great! Do let us know how it works out for you. Thanks
I’m planning to make this tomorrow and have been searching for a straight forward recipe all and finally found yours. I hope it comes out great.
Ohhh you will love it! Thank you for trying out my recipe, Kelly!
Good dish. My mom and I are making it. Now as we have our whole lives we’ are Sierra Leonean. One thing Salone is not in central Africa very misleading were west African so are our dishes! Great work!
Thank you for the feedback, Z!
Love this recipe! This has been my favourite Sierra Leonean dish for some time, but didn’t know how to make it. First attempt tonight and it turned out great. Thank you. 🙂
You are more than welcome. And if there’s a recipe you’d love to see, please let me know. Thanks:)
After seeing this recipe and seeing how clear you made it I intend to use many of them. I like how clear you make it. I’ve mad my fair share of saka saka but my neice stated that she want to be a cook and I’m in search of doable recipes. Now that I’ve found your website I’m definitely going to be using this and many more of your recipes. Thank you for taking the time to create this resource. God Bless you abundantly.
You are more than welcome. And if there’s a recipe you’d love to see, please let me know. Thanks:)Love, Imma
I am from and live in Barbados. I will try to make it because I have the ingredients. Your instructions are quite clear.
Yeah it’s pretty clear and easy. Once you try don’t forget to share how it goes:)
I have had cassava, egushi, jollof, red stew, spinach stew, moin moin, Nigerian fried rice, African pumpkin soup, peanut stew, and pepper soup. This recipe is great by the way!! I don’t have a recipe for pepper soup. I would like one for pepper soup, and would like an additional recipe I haven’t had before. Can you help me out????
Thanks for your feedback, I already have three Pepper Soup recipes you can see the links below
1. https://www.africanbites.com/goat-pepper-soup/
2. https://www.africanbites.com/african-pepper-soupchicken/
3. https://www.africanbites.com/fish-pepper-soup/
Let me know how they turned out for you 🙂
I love this recipe so much
Thank you! 🙂
Best recipe out here, been using it for years.
Thank you!!
Thank you, Aset! 🙂
We the Yoruba of Nigeria call this Torogongo, we typically cook it with Bush meat and palm fruit stock. However I doubt most persons my age know anything about it as it is typically the grandma’s soup you eat when you visit in the village. I will try this recipe
I am white and have cooked cassava a few times previously. However I must admit following this recipe it came out the best and even my partner who is from Nigeria is impressed. He said he is proud that I am encouraging our kids to eat African food and how much I respect his culture
That is sweet, May! Thank you for sharing with me and I am happy to be part of your family’s food and culture experience 🙂
Hi Imma, I like your recipes and your work to promote African food. However, I think you should really adjust this recipe for safety purposes. Cassava leaves, if not processed correctly, contains deadly cynaid. It is recommended not to be consumed if the leaves taste bitter after cooking, and it needs to be cooked for at least half an hour to break down the poison. (https://learn.tearfund.org/en/resources/footsteps/footsteps-41-50/footsteps-47/cooking-with-cassava-leaves)
In this recipe it is only cooked for under 10 minutes. I found it to be extremely bitter and then googled to find out that it means poisonous. I then went on to cook it for another 30 minutes and the bitterness drastically reduced and I was fine after consuming. Please make sure you warn people about it otherwise it might cause some potentially serious consequences! Thanks!
Thank you for sharing, Jo!
I made the dish years ago and didn’t get this information. I think because the leaves are frozen the process of a fresh leaf has been deemed safe for consumption. I can say that this would be a great thing to say in reference to someone who wanted to use fresh leaves. I didn’t have to go through the entire cooking process of the leaves and the dish smells, but the taste was outstanding. However I thank you for that information.
Also, my husband was really happy I cooked this- he is from Mali and they call this dish fakhoye
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Mine came out a little bitter how can I fix that
I have not ran across this issue before .Maybe for next time you could try squeezing out the liquid from the cassava leaf and adding more ground paste .
Thank you for the recipe. I made this with dried cassava leaves I found at the local market, but discovered after I cooked it that the leaves had sand in it.
How do you get rid of the sand in dried cassava leaves?
You have to wash it several times for it to be sandfree.
With regards to Fresh Cassava Leaves, do you Pulse and then Cook…or do you cook and then pulse.
Much love.
Bless!
You pulse and then cook.
Mine came out a little bitter how can I fix that
this recipe looks delicious and cant wait to try it. we grow our own casava here in NSW, Australia. Would you please give me instructions for fresh leaf casava. I understand that it has to be pounded because of the cyanide.
What kind of beef do you prefer?
I prefer goat mear
Thanks for this clear recipe. I teach American English to several congolese people, and all recommend cassava leaves and, specifically, pondu. This sounds very much like one student explained her recipe. I bought frozen cassava leaves and let them thaw in their package in the fridge without meaning to, so I want to use them soon. I have some rich chicken/oxtail stock, so I will use that and some frozen shrimp. I even have palm oil from an earlier recipe, which my friends feel is critical, but I wonder about Maggi cubes. I don’t want to return to the store this week. If my stock is rich, do I need them? Are Wyler’s chicken bouillion cubes a reasonable substitute? I know my friends also recommend dried fish (“saltfish”), but since I have shrimp, I am thinking of using a little bonito flakes instead. I wasn’t sure which dried fish would be good but already have bonito flakes that I use in Korean jjigae. Any suggestions for this version? I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Hi Anni! The Wyler’s chicken bouillon cubes will work just fine and the as well as your bonito flakes. Don’t worry, you have absolutely everything you need to do this dish. Can’t wait for you to make it. Looking forward to your feedback! 🙂
This looks delicious, I would like to try it. But I’m vegetarian. Do you have any recommendations for a vegetarian variation?
You can take out the beef, shrimp, and fish. You can also use vegetable bouillon. Hope this helps. Happy cooking 🙂 !