This cassava salad recipe is an ode to Ozoz of Kitchen Butterfly. A few years ago, Ronke of 9jafoodie and I went to Ozoz’s house where we ate to our hearts content and her pot never ran dry. I was dangerously stuffed that day but with great food and great memories but this particular dish stuck out to me so much.
Growing up in an efik household, we grew up eating cassava but in larger chunks and it was called “Edita Iwa”. We ate it with a flavorful fish with tons of pepper and onions or salted pork. Sometimes we had it with coconuts on a rainy day. My memory of cassava also spans to Queens College were the igbo teachers after school will order a bowl of abacha that had some fish (mostly fried mackerel), drenched in palm oil, peppers, and a vegetable with a slight bitter note called utazi, onions and bob’s your uncle.
Inspired by Ozoz, I decided to explore the depth of freshness in the salad a bit more and also pair with smoky/gamey notes. I have played with smoked guinea fowl, smoked chicken, regular chicken, prawns, crabmeat for the milder flavours and sometimes just coconut.
My cassava salads have fresh bell peppers, green apples, pomegranates, sesame seeds, sometimes a garlic dressing or a smoky aioli made with bleached palm oil. Nigerian cuisine is so versatile and I believe the newness of a dish is heavily founded in a creators experiences of other dishes. Enjoy my cassava salad or the many variations of it I serve at my events.
Ingredients for Cassava Salad
200g Cassava thin slices (Fresh or Dehydrated) – Abacha
4 Tablespoons of Cooked Crab Meat (You can substitute with a cooked protein of choice)
1 Green Apple
1/2 Green, Red, Yellow Bell Peppers
1/2 cup of Pomegranates
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons of Chopped Parsley
1 cup of Sweetened Coconut
2 Teaspoons of Sesame Seeds (Mixed)
2 Tablespoons of Garlic Dressing
Method
If your cassava is dry, use hot water to rehydrate it by soaking it till its soft again. Allow it to cool then mix the ingredients in.
Chop your apples and bell peppers and mix in with the cassava then add your coconut, crabmeat and lemon juice. Then add your parsley, pomegranate and your dressing and then finally sprinkle your sesame seeds to garnish. Serve your cassava salad cool.
