Saka Saka — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Cassava leaves pounded to a smooth paste and slowly cooked with palm oil and salt fish, yielding a silky, intensely flavoured green stew.

Ingredients

1 Pound cassava leaves thoroughly in a mortar until they form a smooth, fine paste. This step is critical for texture.
2 Soak dried salt fish in warm water for twenty minutes, drain, and break into small flakes, removing any bones.
3 Heat palm oil in a large pot. Sauté chopped onion until translucent.
4 Add pounded cassava leaves and water. Stir well and bring to a boil.
5 Reduce heat to low, add salt fish and salt, cover and simmer for forty-five minutes, stirring every ten minutes.
6 The saka saka is ready when it is thick, dark green, and the oil glistens on the surface. Serve alongside gozo.

Did You Know?

Saka saka is so central to the diet that the Sango phrase "saka saka ti zo" means the very essence of a person.