Sauce Feuille

Sauce feuille is a Guinean stew of pounded cassava leaves, simmered in red palm oil until thick and dark green. Its name is French and means "leaf sauce". It is cooked in Guinean homes and served in restaurants, and the leaves are the heart of the dish: the skill lies in pounding them well and cooking them long enough.

What it really is

Cassava leaves are pounded into a fine green mass, then simmered for a long time with onion, garlic and chilli in red palm oil. Fish or meat goes into the pot, so the protein is chosen by the cook. Raw cassava leaves contain natural cyanogenic compounds, so they must be cooked thoroughly before eating, and the long simmer is part of making the dish safe. The palm oil gives the stew its rich orange-red colour and savoury flavour.

How it's served

• Spooned over rice, which is the usual accompaniment.
• Hot, in a shared bowl or on individual plates.
• As a main course, with the fish or meat cooked into the sauce rather than served on the side.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the protein: fish, or meat if you use it, and say which meat.
• Flag fish as an allergen on every version that contains it.
• State the chilli level, since the stew is often made hot.
• Say whether rice is included in the price or sold separately.
• Do not label it vegetarian or vegan, since it is cooked with fish or meat.