Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Ravitoto sy Henakisoa
Pounded cassava leaves slow-cooked with pork, garlic, and ginger, one of Madagascar's best-known dishes.
Malagasy · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 75 min
~715 cal · 48g protein · 50g carbs · 34g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Ravitoto sy henakisoa, pounded leaves with pork, is one of Madagascar's most cherished and iconic dishes, deeply woven into everyday life and celebration alike. Earthy, rich, and comforting, it is the taste of the Malagasy highlands.
Young leaves are pounded to a rough green paste and cooked down slowly with chunks of pork, garlic, and ginger until soft, dark, and deeply savoury, the pork fat enriching the greens. It is often finished with a little coconut in coastal versions. Served with a mound of rice, the staple that Malagasy eat at nearly every meal, and sometimes a spoon of fiery sakay chili, it is plain, filling home food.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 1/2 lb pork shoulder, cubed
1 lb leaves (or spinach), pounded
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 onion, chopped
3 tbsp oil
Instructions
1
Brown the pork with the onion, garlic, and ginger.
2
Add the pounded cassava leaves and a little water, and cook down slowly.
✎ Chef’s note
Cook the greens long and low with the pork so they turn soft, dark, and rich; ravitoto is meant to be dense and deeply cooked, not fresh and bright.
3
Simmer until the pork is tender and the greens are dark and thick.
4
Season and serve with rice and a little chili.
Malagasy highland tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Analamanga (Antananarivo). The green that makes romazava what it is is anamalaho, also sold as bredes mafana, which contains spilanthol and leaves a light tingling numbness on the tongue. Rice is not a side dish here either: the average Malagasy eats around 150 kilos of it a year, more than half of daily calories.
🗺️
Madagascar. Romazava carries a surprise for anyone who has not met it. Among its greens is bredes mafana, whose leaves and flower buds leave a tingling numbness on the tongue, closer to Sichuan pepper than to anything else in the pot. Madagascar is also the world's leading producer of vanilla, which the island exports rather than cooks with.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Madagascar
RomazavaMadagascar’s national broth: zebu beef and mixed leafy greens with ginger and tomato, ladled over rice.
Mofo GasySlightly sweet fermented rice-flour cakes griddled in round moulds, "Malagasy bread" for breakfast.
Koba AkondroA dense steamed cake of banana, ground peanuts, and rice flour wrapped in banana leaf, a Malagasy street sweet.
Browse all Madagascar recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Madagascar meal
RanovolaDrink
Koba AkondroDessert
Akoho sy Voanio (Coconut Chicken)Dinner
Similar dishes from around the world
Kotlet SchabowyPoland
Segedínsky GulášSlovakia
Fricasé PaceñoBolivia
Feijão TropeiroBrazil
CompletoChile
CurrywurstGermany
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Malagasy Recipes
Dairy-Free Malagasy Recipes
Gluten-Free Lunches from Around the World
Dairy-Free Lunches from Around the World
Nut-Free Lunches from Around the World
Egg-Free Lunches from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Ravitoto sy Henakisoa?
Pounded cassava leaves slow-cooked with pork, garlic, and ginger, one of Madagascar's best-known dishes.
Where does Ravitoto sy Henakisoa come from?
Ravitoto sy Henakisoa is a Malagasy dish from Analamanga (Antananarivo), Madagascar.
Can Ravitoto sy Henakisoa be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ravitoto sy Henakisoa recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ravitoto sy Henakisoa safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ravitoto sy Henakisoa take to make?
About 95 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.