Palaver sauce

Palaver sauce
Ghanaian palaver sauce
Alternative namesPalava sauce
TypeStew

Palaver sauce or palava sauce or plasas is a type of stew widely eaten in West Africa, including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.[1][2] The word palaver comes from the Portuguese language and means a talk, lengthy debate or quarrel. It is unclear how this led to the name of the stew.[3] One theory is that the spices used in the stew mingle together like raised voices in an argument.[1] It has been thought of as having the power to calm tensions, or to cause them.[2] Other names for the dish include kontonmire, kentumere, nkontommire and pla'sas.[1][3][4]

It has regional variations and can contain beef, fish, shrimp, pepitas, cassava, taro (cocoyam) leaves, and palm oil. It is served with boiled rice, potatoes, garri, fufu or yams.[1][2] Outside of Africa, spinach is often used as a substitute for other greens.[3] The leaves used to make this soup in Liberia are called molokhia or mulukhiyah leaves.

  1. ^ a b c d Osseo-Asare, Fran (2005). Food Culture In Sub-saharan Africa. Greenwood Press. p. 23. ISBN 0-313-32488-3.
  2. ^ a b c Ogunyemi, Chikwenye Okonjo (1996). Africa Wo/man Palava: The Nigerian Novel by Women. University of Chicago Press. p. 100. ISBN 0-226-62085-9.
  3. ^ a b c "Palaver 'Sauce'". Ghana.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-08-30. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
  4. ^ "Sauce/Stew". Ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 2007-09-30.