What Is Plasas? The Sierra Leonean Leaf Stews Explained
Plasas is the Sierra Leonean name for the family of leafy green stews cooked slowly in red palm oil and served over rice. Here is what it is and how it is made.
African Stores Editorial Team
The short answer
Plasas, also spelled plassas, is the Sierra Leonean and Krio name for the family of leafy green stews that sit at the heart of everyday cooking. A plasas is built on a pounded or chopped green, cooked slowly in red palm oil with onion, hot scotch bonnet pepper, groundnut paste or egusi, and a mix of meat, fish and dried crayfish, then served over rice. Because different greens make different plasas, a household might eat cassava leaf plasas one day and potato leaf plasas or krain krain the next. In the UK the palm oil, greens and other ingredients are sold by African food shops, which you can find near you on African Stores.
What to remember
- Plasas is the Sierra Leonean and Krio word for the whole family of leafy green stews.
- It is cooked slowly in red palm oil with meat, fish, dried crayfish and often groundnut or egusi.
- Different greens make different plasas, such as cassava leaf, potato leaf and krain krain.
- It is the Sierra Leonean form of what Ghana and Liberia call palava sauce.
- It is almost always served over a plate of plain rice.
Few smells say home to a Sierra Leonean quite like a pot of plasas simmering slowly on the stove, the palm oil turning deep and glossy as the greens soften into it. It is the everyday dinner, the pot that feeds a whole family and stretches to feed one more, the food that turns an ordinary weekday into something warm and settled. Every household has its own way with it, and every cook is quietly proud of theirs.
There is real comfort in a dish that changes with the greens in front of you. Cassava leaf one week, potato leaf the next, krain krain when it is going, each one familiar and yet its own thing. To cook a pot of plasas in a kitchen far from Freetown is to fill the house with that same deep, rich smell, and to serve it over rice is to set down a plate that carries all the ease of home.
What Plasas Actually Is
Plasas, sometimes written plassas or palava, is the Sierra Leonean and Krio name for the whole family of leafy green stews that form the backbone of everyday cooking. Rather than a single recipe, plasas is an umbrella term, and the particular green you use gives the dish its name and character. The green is pounded or finely chopped, then cooked long and slow in red palm oil with onion and plenty of hot pepper until it becomes a thick, rich stew. It belongs to the wider world of Sierra Leonean food, where a pot of greens over rice is the most ordinary and most beloved meal there is.
What ties every plasas together is the method and the palm oil rather than the leaf. The most common versions are cassava leaf plasas, potato leaf plasas and krain krain, the mild slippery green also known as jute leaf, but a cook will make plasas from whatever good greens are to hand. The result is always a savoury, deeply seasoned stew built to be eaten with rice.
How Plasas Relates to Palava Sauce
If plasas sounds familiar, that is because it is the Sierra Leonean form of a dish shared across the region. In Ghana and Liberia the same idea, a leafy green stew cooked in palm oil with meat and fish, is known as palava sauce, and the words plasas, plassas and palava all trace back to the same root. The cooking is close cousins, and someone raised on one will recognise the other at first taste.
The differences are in the details rather than the spirit. Sierra Leonean plasas leans on greens like cassava leaf and potato leaf and is very often enriched with groundnut paste or egusi, which links it to dishes like groundnut soup. Whatever the local name, the shared thread is a thick, palm-red stew of greens, meat and fish, seasoned hard and served over rice.
How Plasas Is Made and Served
A plasas starts with the green, which is pounded or chopped fine so it can melt into the pot. It is cooked slowly in red palm oil with onion and hot scotch bonnet pepper, and then built up with a generous mix of meat, smoked or dried fish and ground dried crayfish, which give the stew its deep, savoury backbone. Many cooks stir in groundnut paste or egusi to thicken and enrich it, and the whole pot is left to simmer until everything is tender and the flavours have come together. It is served over a plate of plain white rice, sometimes with a little more palm oil spooned over the top.
Plasas naturally brings together a few common allergens, so it is worth a gentle note. The groundnut paste means peanuts, the fish and dried crayfish mean fish and shellfish, and the dish is cooked in palm oil, which is a common West African cooking fat. Anyone cooking for allergies can leave out the groundnut or crayfish and adjust to taste, though the flavour will change a little. Some households also serve plasas with fufu in place of rice, and the pot is generous and forgiving, made to feed a crowd.
Where to Buy Plasas Ingredients in the UK
Plasas is a home-cooked dish, and the ingredients are straightforward to gather in Britain from African food shops. The essentials are red palm oil, the greens themselves, which shops sell frozen or ready pounded when fresh cassava and potato leaves are hard to find, and the seasonings that carry the flavour, namely dried fish, ground crayfish, groundnut paste or egusi and fresh scotch bonnet. Shops serving West African customers usually stock all of it, along with the rice to serve it over. You can find African food stores near you to see what is nearby.
Frequently asked questions
What is plasas?
Plasas, also spelled plassas, is the Sierra Leonean and Krio name for the family of leafy green stews that form the heart of everyday cooking. A green such as cassava leaf, potato leaf or krain krain is pounded or chopped and cooked slowly in red palm oil with onion, hot pepper, groundnut paste or egusi, and a mix of meat, fish and dried crayfish. It is served over a plate of plain rice.
What does plasas taste like?
Plasas is deep, rich and savoury, with the soft greens carrying the warmth of red palm oil, the heat of scotch bonnet pepper and the strong, smoky depth of dried fish and crayfish. When groundnut paste or egusi is added it becomes fuller and slightly nutty. Every version tastes a little different depending on the green used.
How is plasas different from palava sauce?
Plasas is the Sierra Leonean form of the same dish that Ghana and Liberia call palava sauce, and the names share a common root. Both are leafy green stews cooked in palm oil with meat and fish. Sierra Leonean plasas leans on greens like cassava leaf and potato leaf and is often enriched with groundnut paste or egusi.
What greens are used to make plasas?
The most common are cassava leaf, potato leaf and krain krain, the mild slippery green also known as jute leaf, and each gives its own plasas with its own name and character. Cooks will make plasas from whatever good greens are to hand. The green is always pounded or finely chopped so it softens into a thick stew.
Where can I buy plasas ingredients in the UK?
Plasas is cooked at home, so African food shops are the place to buy the ingredients: red palm oil, the greens themselves, which are often sold frozen or ready pounded, and seasonings such as dried fish, ground crayfish, groundnut paste, egusi and fresh scotch bonnet. Shops serving West African customers stock all of this along with rice. African Stores lists African and Caribbean food shops across the UK, so you can find one near you that stocks them.