Stewed Spinach (African Style)
Stewed spinach African style is a super simple and tasty way of enjoying spinach, bursting with a good amount of healthy greens and delivering the perfect amount of spice. A quick, delicious way of getting your daily greens on the table.
If at times you get caught in a rut doing the same recipes over and over again, here’s an African spinach dish that is easy to make any time of the week with minimal prep.
All you need is spinach, tomatoes, onions, shrimp, and smoked turkey, and you’re on your way to a mighty tasty dish. And for added flavor, you can add garlic and thyme (traditional African flavors).
This wholesome side dish is one I’ve been making for as long as I can remember, and it’s one of my absolute favorite ways of eating spinach (other than eating it raw in a salad). It’s rustic, quick, and easy without sacrificing flavor.
What Makes Spinach the Ideal Side
Oh yes! My cousin called to say that he was coming over for a lunch break and that he was SUPER hungry. I get that a lot from him. That’s because he knows I can whip up something fast. And I always fall for it.
Luckily for me, or should I say him, I had some spinach already thawing in the fridge. I got out the rest of the ingredients, grabbed some plantains, and in 45 minutes, I had finished cooking and had taken a few pictures for the blog. Doesn’t always work like this, but today I got lucky! It took 10 minutes tops for the photographs.
Now, can you believe I didn’t get a plate of this deliciousness for myself? My cousin and hubby wiped the plate clean! No leftovers for the cook. 😮
How to Stew African Style Spinach
- Season shrimp with salt, pepper, and salt-free Creole seasoning or use your favorite seasoning.
- Sauté the shrimp in a bit of oil until they turn pink. Remove and set aside. (Photo 1)
- Add the smoked turkey sauté with onions to the oil, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. (Photo 2)
- Flavor – Add the garlic, thyme, hot pepper, paprika, and bouillon powder, and cook while stirring for about a minute. Then add tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes. (Photos 3-4)
- Toss in the spinach, and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. Do a taste test, and adjust seasonings. Serve with the shrimp on top or stir it in. (Photos 5-6)
Notes and Tips
- You can leave out the shrimp, but the smoked turkey adds a smoky flavor to the dish.
- If you want a whole plant-based version, replace the shrimp with oyster mushrooms, add smoked paprika for the smoky flavor, and vegetable bouillon for flavor. It’s that easy.
- Feel free to swap out the spinach for collard greens, add more spices, or play with the spice combination to suit your taste buds.
- If you have crayfish, you can throw them in as well.
- You can easily boil plantains by peeling them first, or not. The green plantains are easier to peel after they’ve cooked. Just slit the peel lengthwise and boil for about 20 minutes. Gently remove the peel and enjoy.
What Pairs Well With African Style Spinach
For the health-conscious, boiled plantains cut out most of the oil. I love fried plantains, and was hoping to have some leftovers. Any starchy dish works: plantains (baked or fried), corn fufu, or yams.
More Healthy African Recipes to Enjoy
By Imma
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”vMXapKiI” upload-date=”2019-08-03T14:08:54.000Z” name=”Stewed Spinach (African Style)” description=”Stewed Spinach – super simple way of enjoy spinach African style -bursting with a good amount of greens and delivers the perfect amount spice. A quick and easy way of putting greens on the table.”]
This blog post was originally published in September 2017 and has been revised with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
African Stewed Spinach
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30ml) canola oil
- ½ pound (250g) shrimp, peeled and deveined
- salt and pepper to taste (I used ½ a teaspoon of salt to begin with)
- ½-1 teaspoon (2-4g) salt-free Creole seasoning or your favorite spice mix (adjust to taste)
- ½ pound (250g) chopped smoked turkey
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 2 teaspoons (9-10g) minced garlic
- 1-2 teaspoons (2-4g) thyme (optional)
- ½-1 teaspoon (2-3g) cayenne pepper or a whole scotch bonnet pepper
- 1 teaspoon (3g) paprika
- 1 teaspoon (3-4g) bouillon powder or Maggie (optional)
- 4-5 tomatoes, chopped
- 3 pounds (1.5kg) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
Instructions
- Heat canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot. Season shrimp with salt, pepper, and salt-free Creole seasoning, or use your favorite seasoning.
- Lightly sauté the shrimp in a bit of oil until they turn pink, 4-5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Add the smoked turkey sauté with onions to the oil, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Add minced garlic, thyme, cayenne or a whole pepper, paprika, and bouillon powder, and cook while stirring for about a minute. Then add tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Toss in the spinach, and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. Do a taste test, and adjust seasonings.
- You can toss the sautéed shrimp with the spinach at this point or serve with shrimp on top.
Tips & Notes:
- I used salt-free Creole seasoning. However, you can use the one that contains salt and reduce the amount of salt.
- Do a taste test after adding the spinach and adjust the seasonings to taste. It will taste bland if you don’t have enough salt, so add a little at a time just until it tastes good, being careful not to oversalt it.
- If you want to use fresh spinach, sauté or blanch 5 pounds of spinach, squeeze out excess liquid, and proceed with the recipe.
- Replace the spinach with collard greens by removing the hard stem, chopping, and blanching them. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add chopped collard greens, and submerge them completely in the boiling water. Let the collard greens cook for about a minute or less. Remove, immerse them in ice water, drain, and add to the pot.
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the ingredients used in the recipe.
