The "green stew" an Indian Ocean island eats every day
Madagascar, the world's fourth-largest island, lies in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa. Known for lemurs and baobab trees, this island nation's table is anchored by romazava.
Romazava is a soup of several leafy greens and beef (or pork or chicken), simmered with ginger and tomato. It looks like a plain green soup, but in the mouth the bitterness and sweetness of the greens, the savor of the meat, the heat of ginger and the acidity of tomato layer into a dish of depth where the taste changes with each bite.
In Malagasy, "ro" means soup or broth and "mazava" means clear or clean. True to the name "clear soup," romazava is a simple stew with no cream or coconut milk, in which only the color of the greens stands out.
Madagascar's national dish. In Malagasy, ro = soup and mazava = clear. It is eaten almost daily across the whole of Madagascar and is always served with white rice (vary). Unlike a special-occasion dish such as Ethiopia's doro wat, it is everyday food itself.
In English- and French-speaking countries, many food writers explain it in detail as "Madagascar's national dish," with recipes and notes on the food culture. Like Cameroon's ndole (in Japanese) and Tanzania's ugali, African home cooking is gaining recognition, and romazava also deserves to be better known.
Ingredients (serves 4)
Authentic romazava uses a bitter Malagasy leafy green called anamamy. It is nearly impossible to find elsewhere, but a three-way blend of the bitterness of garland chrysanthemum, the peppery bite of watercress and the sweetness of spinach recreates a close flavor. English-language Malagasy food writers recommend similar substitutions.
This dish uses beef. If you have a beef allergy, chicken thighs can be substituted. All ingredients are ordinary vegetables and meats, and none of the seven major allergens (wheat, milk, egg, buckwheat, peanut, shrimp, crab) are included.
Ginger is easy to buy at a regular grocery store, so the main text only covers how to choose it. Grating fresh ginger gives a stronger aroma than tube ginger, but on a busy day tube ginger still gives a working flavor.
Cooking tips
The importance of ginger in Malagasy cooking is comparable to lemongrass in Southeast Asia. Looking at romazava recipes, Malagasy chefs writing in English tend to use a bit more ginger (2 to 3 pieces). The heat and warmth of ginger set the tone of the whole soup and soften the bitterness of the greens.
If greens are simmered from the start, the color dulls and the texture is lost. Add them staggered, stems first and then leaves, with the last leaves going in just before you turn off the heat. In contrast to long-simmered dishes like Eritrea's zigni (in Japanese), the greens in romazava are right when just briefly cooked.
Beef (from zebu cattle) is the most common in Madagascar, but it is also made with pork, chicken and fish. Malagasy food bloggers writing in English describe beef as giving the deepest richness, chicken a lighter touch and fish a delicate finish. For a first time, beef is recommended.
Rather than eating romazava as a side dish on a separate plate, the Malagasy custom is to pour it over the rice and mix it. All dishes are seasoned on the premise that they will be eaten with rice. It is a food culture of enjoying oneness with the staple, like Sri Lanka's kottu.
Variations
Chicken romazava
Use 4 bone-in chicken thighs instead of beef. Don't parboil the chicken; brown it and then simmer it as is. The result is lighter than the beef version, and adding a small amount of vinegar to freshen it, as in Philippine adobo (in Japanese), is also popular.
Fish romazava (romazava with fish)
Use 400 g fillets of white fish (cod or sea bass). Fish breaks up easily, so the point is to add it in the last 10 minutes and not stir much. A version common on Madagascar's coast, where the delicate savor of fish harmonizes with the greens.
Tofu version (vegetarian)
Use 2 blocks of firm tofu instead of beef. Press out the water, cut into 3 cm cubes, brown the surface and then simmer. Adding mushrooms (200 g shimeji) rounds out the savor.
East Asian-style romazava
Increase the ginger (3 pieces) and use sesame oil instead of vegetable oil. Seasoning at the end with 1 tbsp light soy sauce gives a result that sits naturally as a side-dish soup. The food culture of "pouring soup over rice" has a universality that crosses borders, as with Nepal's dal bhat.
Coconut milk version
Adding 100 ml coconut milk at the end makes the coastal romazava of eastern Madagascar. The mildness of coconut softens the bitterness of the greens and broadens its appeal. As with Malaysia's nasi lemak, coconut blends in naturally in island cooking.
Background of the dish
Madagascar, "the Asia of Africa"
Madagascar lies east of the African continent, but its food culture has the peculiar character of being closer to Asia than to Africa. The ancestors of the Malagasy are said to have crossed the sea from Southeast Asia (around present-day Borneo in Indonesia) about 1,500 years ago, and the Malagasy language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian family.
This Southeast Asian origin remains strongly in the food culture. Madagascar is one of the world's leading rice-consuming countries, and every meal centers on rice (vary), with romazava existing as a dish to eat with the rice.
The pattern of mixing Asian rice culture with African leafy-green culture can be seen in romazava: the Asian form of "soup over rice" and the African technique of "combining many kinds of greens" are fused.
"Vary sy laoka" — rice and its accompaniment
The basic structure of a Malagasy meal is "vary sy laoka": "rice and accompaniment." Every accompaniment (laoka), romazava included, functions as a "companion to rice" for eating plenty of white rice deliciously.
This structure closely resembles rice-centered meal systems such as Nepal's dal bhat.
Romazava and the "brèdes" culture
In Madagascar, leafy greens are collectively called "brèdes" (a word from French). Madagascar's markets display more than 20 kinds of brèdes, and home cooks change the flavor of romazava according to their mood and what greens are available.
Main brèdes include the following.
- Anamamy: a bitter leaf. The core of romazava
- Anatso: a leaf resembling watercress
- Ravembesara: a fragrant leaf
This culture of combining many kinds of leafy greens is an African food wisdom shared with the bitter leaf culture of Cameroon's ndole (in Japanese) and the various soups served with Ghana's fufu.
Nutrition (per serving, one of 4)
Romazava is on the healthy side of African dishes. Little oil is used and the greens star, keeping calories modest. It is a well-balanced dish providing 28 g protein from the beef and 6 g fiber from the greens.
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Calories | 340 kcal |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Carbohydrates | 26 g |
| Fiber | 6 g |
| Sodium | 580 mg |
Spinach is an excellent source of iron and vitamin K, and watercress is rich in vitamin C. Garland chrysanthemum contains a lot of beta-carotene, and cooking it with oil raises absorption. Combining three kinds of greens gives a nutritional diversity that a single green does not.
More dishes to cook alongside
- Introduction to African cuisine - Ingredients and aromas from the same region can be reused.
- Introduction to Ethiopian cuisine - Ingredients and aromas from the same region can be reused.
- Introduction to Moroccan cuisine (in Japanese) - Ingredients and aromas from the same region can be reused.
Frequently asked questions
Questions often asked by people making romazava for the first time, from choosing the greens to storage.
Q1. Do I need three kinds of greens? Is two okay?
You can make it with two, but the depth of flavor definitely drops. Use at least two: "a bitter leaf (garland chrysanthemum) plus a sweet leaf (spinach)." Ideally use three: "bitter, peppery and sweet leaves." Adding a fourth kind such as komatsuna or bok choy gives an even more complex flavor.
Q2. How long does romazava keep?
It keeps 3 days in the refrigerator. The next day the flavor has settled in and tastes better. But the color of the greens dulls over time, so if color matters, add greens only for what you will eat and store the rest of the soup without greens. Freezing is possible for 1 month.
Q3. What other dishes are there in Malagasy cuisine?
Besides romazava, a famous one is ravitoto, a dish of finely chopped cassava leaves simmered with coconut milk and pork. Achard, pickles of mango or papaya, is also a standard. All dishes are premised on being eaten with vary (white rice).
Q4. I added too much ginger. Can I fix it?
If the heat of the ginger is too strong, add 50 g more spinach and simmer. The sweetness of the spinach softens the sharpness of the ginger. Adding 2 tbsp coconut milk also mellows it.
Q5. What drink goes with romazava?
In Madagascar it is traditional to drink ranon'apango, water poured onto the crust of rice left after cooking and boiled until it infuses, along with romazava. Roasted green tea or barley tea also go well. If beer, a light pilsner type is recommended.
Other African stews
If romazava has caught your interest, please try other African stews as well.
- Ndole (in Japanese) — Cameroon's bitter-leaf stew. A combination of leafy greens and peanuts
- Doro wat — Ethiopia's spiced chicken stew. The depth of African stew culture
- Maafe (in Japanese) — Mali's peanut stew. A leading example of West African stews
- Zigni (in Japanese) — Eritrea's spiced stew. The stew culture of East Africa
Sources
Recipes and cooking
- "Romazava: Madagascar's National Dish." (2024). 196 Flavors. https://www.196flavors.com/madagascar-romazava/ — an explanation of romazava from a site introducing traditional dishes of the world
Culture and history
- Beaujard, P. (2019). The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108631365 — settlement from Southeast Asia in Madagascar and the spread of food culture
