Palaver Sauce

Submitted by breezermom

"Typically, Palaver Sauce includes fresh beef, smoked pork or fish, and dark green leaves. In West Africa, these leaves might be "platto", "bologi," or bitter leaf. A good substitute is spinach. African natives coined "palaver" in the 19th century when European traders would parley or barter for goods. From "Classic International Recipes".**Although I rarely post recipes without trying them, in this case I did. I decided to make this today, and would like to suggest the following: I had 1 lb of stew meat, and 1 smoked pork hock was plenty...the smokey flavor was good with that, so I have reduced the pork hocks to 2 instead of 3. I used spinach, but really feel this could use a stronger green, like collards or kale. I'm adding this to the ingredient list. I've also added some garlic. I've tried to stay true to the African recipe, and feel I have done so..just made a few improvements. Add finishing salt if needed....depends on your pork hock and how salty it is!**"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 45mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 smoked pork hocks (only use one if it is large! Also, you could substitute some really great smoked bacon or salt pork )
• 1 cup water
• 2 lbs fresh spinach, torn into pieces (if you can find platto or bologi, use that...I recommend that if you can't find platto or bologi, th)
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 tablespoon gingerroot, grated (may use 1 tsp ground ginger)
• 1 -2 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
• hot cooked rice (optional)
• finishing salt, to taste

directions

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, combine beef, pork hocks, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover; simmer about 50 minutes, or until the beef is just tender.
2. Remove pork hocks; cool slightly. Cut meat from the bones; discard the bones and return the meat to the Dutch oven.
3. In a large covered saucepan simmer the greens in a small amount of water for 5 minutes; drain well.
4. In a large skillet, cook onions, garlic, tomatoes, gingerroot, and ground red pepper in hot oil until the onion is tender but not brown.
5. Stir the onion mixture, drained spinach, and chopped eggs into the meat mixture. Cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. If desired, serve over hot cooked rice in soup bowls.