Sierra Leonean
Cassava leaves over rice — the Krio plate that holds Freetown together.
Cassava Leaves
Sierra Leone's national dish — fresh cassava leaves are pounded in a wooden mortar until they break down into a dense, fibrous paste, then slow-cooked for 2+ hours with palm oil, dried/smoked fish, smoked meat, onions, and habanero (Scotch bonnet) peppers until the whole thing collapses into a thick, dark-green stew. Served over white rice. Source: Wikipedia (Sierra Leonean cuisine); Sierra Leone Tourism; Eat Your World.
View page →Sierra Leone is the small West African coastal country whose capital, Freetown, was founded in 1792 as a settlement for freed Africans repatriated from Britain, Nova Scotia, and Jamaica — the Krio people whose Krio cuisine threads through Mende, Temne, Limba, and Fula traditions to produce a distinctive table. The signature is Cassava Leaves — ground young cassava tops slow-simmered with palm oil, smoked fish, beef, and scotch bonnet into a deep dark-green sauce served over rice, eaten almost every Sunday from Freetown to Kenema. Plasas is the umbrella term for the wider family of palm-oil leaf sauces (potato leaves, krain-krain jute mallow, cassava leaves, often combined). Groundnut Soup — peanut paste in tomato-and-scotch-bonnet base — is the Krio Sunday alternative. Sierra Leonean Jollof has its Krio earthiness and is often served with fried plantain. Pepper Soup, the clear bone-broth seared with scotch bonnet and calabash nutmeg, is the universal restorative. The smoke-marinated whole roast fish of the Freetown beaches is its Friday counterpart.
On the Map
Where this cuisine is found
The Palate
Start Here
Ground cassava leaves slow-simmered with palm oil, beef, smoked fish, dried shrimp, and scotch bonnet into a smoky-rich dark-green sauce. Served over rice.
Why start here · Sierra Leone's national dish. The undisputed Sunday family centerpiece; the single bite that anchors the cuisine.
Peanut paste loosened with tomato, onion, ginger, and scotch bonnet, slow-simmered with chicken, beef, or smoked fish into a deep golden-brown stew.
Why start here · The Krio Sunday alternative to cassava leaves. The clearest taste of the pan-West-African groundnut tradition.
An umbrella term for palm-oil leaf stews — potato leaves, krain-krain (jute mallow), cassava leaves, or a mix, simmered with palm oil, smoked fish, beef, and scotch bonnet.
Why start here · Understand 'plasas' and you understand the whole Krio everyday dinner archetype.
The Pantry
See all 34 ingredients›
Grains & Staples
Dairy & Fats
Sauces & Condiments
Regional Styles
Western Area (Freetown Peninsula)
The Krio heartland — the capital and the Atlantic peninsula. Cassava leaves, groundnut soup, Jollof, and the Friday beach roast-fish tradition.
Southern Province (Bo, Pujehun)
The Mende heartland. Plasas leaf sauces, foofoo fermented cassava, and the strongest forest cassava-leaf tradition.
Northern Province (Makeni, Kabala)
The Temne, Limba, and Fula north. Pepper soup, millet pâtes, and the Fula dairy and cattle tradition.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
