Plasas

Ingredients

Greens

• 1 kgpotato leaves, cassava leaves or jute leaves, finely pounded
• or 1 kg spinach, finely chopped

Meat and fish

• 500 gbeef, cubed
• 300 gsmoked fish, flaked and boned
• 200 gdried fish or bonga
• 100 gcow skin or tripe, optional

Base

• 250 mlred palm oil
• 2onions, chopped
• 4tomatoes, chopped
• 3scotch bonnet peppers
• 2 tbspground crayfish
• 2stock cubes
• salt

Also

• 1 litrewater or stock

To serve

• white rice
• fufu
• or boiled cassava

Directions

1. Pound them, boil them hard in plenty of water for at least 30 minutes, and throw that water away. Never use the cassava leaf boiling water in the pot, and never shorten that boil.
2. Boil the beef and cow skin with a stock cube until nearly tender, about 45 minutes, and keep the stock. Now heat the palm oil in a wide heavy pot until it is hot but nowhere near smoking.
3. Fry the onions until soft, then add the tomatoes and blended peppers and cook 10 minutes. Add the pounded greens and stir them through the oil. Now cook it uncovered, stirring often, for 45 minutes to an hour.
4. Add the meat, smoked fish, dried fish and ground crayfish, along with some of the stock. Add liquid sparingly. Plasas is a thick sauce rather than a soup and it should hold its shape on a spoon.
5. Stir it regularly and scrape the base, because a thick greens and palm oil pot catches easily. It is ready when the oil has risen and separated into a clear red layer on the surface.
6. Season with salt and taste, and expect it to be genuinely hot. The finished plasas should be very dark green flecked with red oil, thick and glossy.
7. Serve it over white rice, which is the standard, or with fufu or boiled cassava.

Technique

• Frozen pounded cassava and potato leaves are sold in African shops ready-prepared.
• Sierra Leonean and Gambian versions are close, and Ghanaian palaver sauce uses cocoyam leaves.
• It freezes well in portions.

Substitutions

• Spinach or kale in place of the traditional leaves, which needs no long boiling.
• Smoked mackerel in place of African smoked fish.

Variations

• Made with cassava leaves, which is the Sierra Leonean standard.
• With chicken instead of beef.
• With egusi or groundnut added for body.

History

Plasas comes from the Portuguese-derived Krio word for greens; the palm-oil leaf stew is shared with Sierra Leone and the Guinea coast.

Frequently asked questions

What is Plasas?

Plasas is a soup & stew from Gambia: greens simmered in palm oil with smoked fish and meat. Plasas comes from the Portuguese-derived Krio word for greens; the palm-oil leaf stew is shared with Sierra Leone and the Guinea coast.

How long does Plasas take to make?

Plasas takes 40 min of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Plasas?

Yes, within limits. Spinach or kale in place of the traditional leaves, which needs no long boiling. Smoked mackerel in place of African smoked fish.

What is the most important thing to get right in Plasas?

Pound them, boil them hard in plenty of water for at least 30 minutes, and throw that water away. Never use the cassava leaf boiling water in the pot, and never shorten that boil.