Placali is fermented and crushed cassava that is used as a complement to several soups including okra sauce, seed sauce, and many other African soups. Today I am taking you on a journey to the Ivory Coast with the legendary placali okra sauce which is one of the favorite dishes of Ivorians. It is a dish that requires a little time and enough energy because you will probably spend a lot of it to make placali well.
INGREDIENTS
- 400g of beef
- 100 g beef skin
- 3 red crabs
- Dried shrimp
- 2 small dried fish
- 1 piece of fermented salted fish
- 2 tomatoes
- 25 ml red palm oil
- 2 onions
- 2 peppers
- Pepper
- 300 g okra
- Placali
Total time
Preparation: 15min Rest: – Cooking: 2h
PREPARATION
The sauce
1
Get rid of the small stems at the bottom of the okra, wash, cut, mix and set aside. The okra does not necessarily need to be very smooth, you can if you want mix it so that it is finely cut or simply cut with a knife, it all depends on the texture of sauce you would like to have at the end of cooking; ⇒ It is also important to carefully select the okra you are going to use. Prefer fresh okra rather than dried or frozen ones;
2
Pour the meats and crabs into a saucepan and place on the heat, add salt and a little shallot then simmer for 5 min; ⇒ At this level everyone uses the meats that suit them. If you prefer beef feet for example, it would be better to cook them the day before to save a little time.
3
Add the onions, tomatoes and peppers, then add about 1 litre of water and cover
4
Pour the blended okra into another saucepan, the palm oil, a little pepper and 250 ml of water, a little salt and the fermented mollusc and cook over medium heat for about 7 min and set aside;
5
Then grill the dried shrimp and fish over low heat for 6 minutes, let cool to room temperature and blend until a powder is obtained;
6
Now remove the vegetables from the pan of meats after about 20 min, mix and pour back into the same pan while it is on the heat and add the shrimp and fish powder, stir and let the meats cook;
7
When the meats are cooked as required, pour in the okra, stir, check the seasoning and simmer for 5 min and bring to a boil.
The placali
1
To cook placali, place the placali in a large bowl, add generous amounts of water and mix well with your fingers until the mixture is homogeneous;
2
Then pass the mixture through a fine sieve, letting it flow into a saucepan to get rid of the fibres which are there and to allow the placali to be quite smooth at the end of cooking;
3
Then let it sit for 4 minutes so that the water rises to the surface and the dough sinks to the bottom of the pan; ⇒ In fact, the amount of water you add to your placali depends on the consistency you would like to have at the end of cooking. If you want your placali a little hard, add less water and if you want it less hard or rather soft, add more water
4
Then place the pan on the fire and stir immediately with a spatula or a placali pestle. Stir, turn, apply force as it changes texture. You will have to work your muscles for about 20 minutes until the placali is cooked. During cooking, check the consistency, if it is too hard you can add a little water before continuing to turn. Your arms and muscles will probably hurt a lot, but hey, that's also African cuisine! Serve your placali with the sauce and enjoy. Bon appetit
