Malagasy recipe
How to make Romazava
The central highlands, now eaten all over Madagascar
The national dish: a clear broth of zebu beef with several kinds of leafy greens, usually with tomato, onion and ginger, eaten with a big plate of rice. Its secret is brèdes mafana (paracress), whose leaves and yellow flowers make the tongue tingle and feel slightly numb.
Ingredients
- 600 g stewing beef, cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- A thumb of fresh ginger, grated
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- About 1.2 litres water
- About 500 g mixed greens: watercress, spinach and pak choi (in Madagascar, brèdes mafana, anamamy and anatsonga)
- Salt, and cooked white rice to serve
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pot and brown the beef on all sides with a little salt.
- Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook for 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook until they soften.
- Pour in the water, cover and simmer gently for about an hour, until the beef is tender.
- Wash and roughly chop the greens. Add the tougher ones first and the watercress last, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until just soft.
- Taste for salt and serve in bowls next to plenty of rice, spooning the broth over the rice as you eat.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Romazava was one of the seven favourite dishes served at the royal feasts of the Merina kings and queens in the 1800s.
Take the trip to Madagascar
