Romazava (Malagasy Leaf Soup with Ginger and Beef) 🌿

Name: Romazava (Malagasy Leaf Soup with Ginger and Beef)
Prep time: 24 min
Cook time: 36 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Malagasy
Ingredients: 400 g beef chuck or shin, cut to cubes (on the bone if possible); 300 g anamamy or spinach/Chinese watercress mix (leafy bitter greens are authentic; two handfuls of brèdes alternates welcome); 1 thumb of fresh ginger, julienned or pounded; 1 large tomato; chopped; 1 spring onion; 2 garlic cloves pounded; 2 cups broth or water, 1/2 tsp dried shrimp powder (tsiry), salt to taste; To serve: steamed white vaovao rice per diner

The national dish of Madagascar is a green soup the island's highlanders would sooner argue about than give away: an entire pot of anamamy (Parakysis/Corchorus, 'the Malagasy spinach') collapsed into a ginger-scented beef broth, tomato's red barely staining the edge, and a fistful of brèdes (morongue, watercress, whatever the garden gave) folded in at the last minute. Served the way every family serves it — over white rice in a shared bowl with tsiry (dried shrimp powder) and a splash of the broth drunk from the spoon like tea. It tastes of the central highlands: ginger, leaf, woodsmoke. If you have never eaten a soup where the vegetable is the point rather than the garnish, start here.

Analamanga Malagasy ⏱ 60 min Easy

Method

1

Cover beef with water in a pot, add half the ginger and the garlic paste; simmer gently 40 minutes to an hour until the meat is tender and the broth tastes of meat and ginger. Skim as needed — the stock is the foundation.
2

Add tomato, spring onion and shrimp powder; simmer 10 minutes so the tomato melts without dominating. Season: the soup is salty-savory from tsiry and the leaf's own bitterness.
3

Bring to a hard boil, then pack in the leafy greens in handfuls, pressing them under. Collapsing them into the broth — not wilting them — is the technique. 3-5 minutes depending on leaf: anamamy longer than spinach, which should stay green.
4

Correct salt one last time and kill the heat: the leaves should be silk but not khaki.
5

To eat: ladle broth over rice in a communal bowl, pile leaves and meat around the edges, pour a little hot broth into a small cup and drink it first, like tea. Diners add tsiry and raw ginger slivers themselves.

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