This cassava salad recipe is a tribute to Ozoz kitchen butterflyA few years ago, Ronke’s 9jafoodie And I went to Ozoz’s house and ate to my heart’s content, but her pot never went dry. I was dangerously full that day, but I had great food and great memories, but this particular dish really stood out to me.
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 savory fish full of chillies and onions, or cured pork. I even ate it with coconut on rainy days. My cassava memory extends to Queen’s College. After school, a teacher in Igbo ordered an abacha with fish (mostly fried mackerel), palm oil, green peppers, a slightly bitter vegetable called utaji, and onions. And Bob is your uncle.
Inspired by Ozoz, we decided to explore a little more depth of salad freshness and pair it with a smoky/gamy note. I’ve played with smoked guinea pigs, smoked chicken, regular chicken, shrimp, mildly flavored crab meat, and sometimes just coconut.
My cassava salad has fresh peppers, green apples, pomegranates and sesame seeds, sometimes with garlic dressing or smoky aioli made with bleached palm oil. I think it’s based heavily on the experience of the creators of the dish.
cassava salad ingredients
200g cassava slices (raw or dehydrated) – Avacha
4 tablespoons cooked crab meat (you can substitute your favorite cooked protein)
1 green apple
1/2 green, red, and yellow pepper
1/2 cup pomegranate
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup sweetened coconut
2 tsp sesame (mixed together)
2 tablespoons garlic dressing
Method
If the cassava is dry, soak it in hot water until it becomes soft again. Let it cool and then mix the ingredients.
Chop apples and peppers and mix with cassava, then add coconut, crabmeat and lemon juice. Then add the parsley, pomegranate, dressing and finally sprinkle with sesame seeds to garnish. Serve the cassava salad chilled.
