Ndolé

Name: Ndolé
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: African
Ingredients: 25 g dried bitterleaf (ndolé); 100 g beef chuck or shin; 50 g raw shelled peanuts; 30 g smoked fish; 1 tbsp ground dried prawns or crayfish; 2 cloves garlic; 10 g fresh ginger; 1 tbsp groundnut oil; 0.5 scotch bonnet chilli; 0.5 Maggi or beef stock cube; 1 onion; 300 ml water; 1 ripe plantain; salt

Cameroon's national dish: bitterleaf simmered with a rich ground peanut sauce, beef, smoked fish and dried prawns, served with boiled plantain.

Mains 25g+ protein 8g+ fibre

95 min20 prep · 75 cookMedium897 kcalper serving

Instructions

Put 25 g dried bitterleaf in a bowl, cover generously with cold water and leave to soak for at least 4 hours or overnight. Rub the leaves hard between your palms and rinse in 3 changes of water until the water runs pale, this is what draws out the bitterness.
Bring a pan of unsalted water to the boil, add the soaked leaves and boil for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water and squeeze out in handfuls until barely damp, then chop roughly and set aside.
Put 100 g cubed beef in a small saucepan with the sliced half onion, 0.5 stock cube and 300 ml water. Bring to the boil, skim, cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes until the beef is tender. Keep the beef and its stock together.
While the beef cooks, boil 50 g peanuts in water for 15 minutes until soft, drain, and blend to a thick smooth paste with 3-4 tbsp of water, scraping the jug down as you go.