Romazava

Ingredients

• Beef — diced500 g
• Pork — diced300 g
• Brèdes mafana or watercress300 g
• Spinach300 g
• Mustard greens200 g
• Tomatoes3
• Onion2
• Garlic5 clove
• Ginger30 g
• Rice — to serve400 g
• Vegetable oil40 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Fry the onion, garlic and ginger in oil until soft, five minutes.

   7 min

2. 2

   Add both meats and the tomatoes and warm them through, without browning.

   8 min

3. 3

   Add a litre and a half of water, season and simmer an hour.

   62 min

4. 4

   Wash the greens and chop them coarsely, discarding tough stems.

   12 min

5. 5

   Add the mustard greens and spinach and cook ten minutes.

   12 min

6. 6

   Add the mafana for the last five minutes; long cooking weakens its effect.

   7 min

7. 7

   Serve in deep bowls with a large helping of boiled rice.

   6 min

About the dish

Brèdes mafana is a leafy green whose flower buds contain spilanthol. It leaves a slight numbness and tingle on the tongue, like Sichuan pepper, and it is what makes this dish what it is.

The meat and greens cook together for a long time, unbrowned and unspiced. Romazava is a clear, almost lean broth, and additions are considered surplus.

Rice is obligatory alongside — boiled, and plenty of it — and so is ranonapango, the toasted rice water drunk in place of tea. That is the full standard Malagasy lunch.

Worth knowing

• — Nothing fully replaces mafana. Watercress gives a comparable bitterness but no tingle — worth saying plainly.
• — The broth should not be fatty. Use lean meat and skim as you go; romazava is valued for the clarity of its flavour.
• — No spices go in. Malagasy cooking is not a spiced cuisine, and pepper is offered separately at the table.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

520 kcal

Protein

42 g

Fat

16 g

Carbs

52 g

More from Madagascar

• Ravitoto — Pounded cassava leaves stewed with pork and coconut milk.