Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Romazava
Madagascar’s national broth: zebu beef and mixed leafy greens with ginger and tomato, ladled over rice.
Malagasy · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 60 min
~896 cal · 62g protein · 84g carbs · 33g fat · 17g fiber · 5g sugars · 11g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Romazava is the national dish of Madagascar, a brothy beef-and-greens stew whose defining ingredient is 'anamalao' or brèdes mafana, a local leaf that produces a gentle tingling, numbing sensation on the tongue, a little like Sichuan pepper. The name means roughly 'good broth,' and a good, clear, aromatic broth is exactly its aim.
The dish speaks to Madagascar's unique Austronesian and African heritage: the island was settled by seafarers from Southeast Asia, and its cooking blends rice culture and greens with African and later French and Indian influences into something found nowhere else. Various leafy 'brèdes' are simmered with beef, ginger, tomato, and garlic.
Romazava is eaten, as nearly all Malagasy meals are, with a generous mound of rice, the true center of the plate, the light, faintly tingling broth spooned over it. Simple, restorative, and deeply local, it is the everyday stew that Malagasy families in Antananarivo and beyond return to again and again.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-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
1.5 lbs beef chuck (zebu, traditionally), cubed
6 cups mixed leafy greens (watercress, spinach, mustard greens)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp fresh ginger,
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tbsp
4 cups jasmine rice, cooked
Instructions
1
Brown the beef (or mushrooms and beans) in oil with the onion.
2
Add ginger, garlic, and tomatoes; cook 5 minutes.
3
Cover with 6 cups water, salt, and simmer 45 minutes until the meat is tender (15 minutes for the plant version).
4
Stir in the greens in handfuls and simmer 10 minutes more, the broth should stay light and clear.
5
Serve generously over rice, broth and all. Malagasy tables add a spoonful of hot sakay chili paste.
Antananarivo highlands tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Analamanga (Antananarivo). Analamanga is the highland region around Antananarivo, where romazava, a brothy beef stew with bitter greens, was the dish of the Merina kings. Rice is eaten at nearly every meal in quantity, brightened by tomato-ginger relish and the local chili paste sakay.
🗺️
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
Mofo GasySlightly sweet fermented rice-flour cakes griddled in round moulds, "Malagasy bread" for breakfast.
Ravitoto sy HenakisoaPounded cassava leaves slow-cooked with pork, garlic, and ginger, one of Madagascar's best-known dishes.
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: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Madagascar meal
RanovolaDrink
Koba AkondroDessert
Ravitoto sy HenakisoaLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Romazava?
Madagascar’s national broth: zebu beef and mixed leafy greens with ginger and tomato, ladled over rice.
Where does Romazava come from?
Romazava is a Malagasy dish from Analamanga (Antananarivo), Madagascar.
Can Romazava be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Romazava 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 Romazava 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 Romazava take to make?
About 75 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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