One of the most well-documented preparations for garden huckleberry leaves I've seen, Njama Njama is a traditional recipe from Cameroon of braised black nightshade greens cooked with habanero peppers and palm oil. Like a lot of traditional dishes there's lots of variations and ways it can be served, but there's a few key ingredients and techniques that make it special.
What is Njama Njama?
Njama Njama is a dish of braised garden huckleberry greens, typically Solanum scabrum. The name can refer to the finished dish or the plant itself. I've been growing Solanum melanocerasum in my garden which is a similar species eaten in Africa.
If you read my post on black nightshade you'll remember garden huckleberry is just a misleading name for black nightshade plants grown for their edible leaves and fruit.
One local name in Cameroon for the plants is "hokeyberry". According to True Love Seeds there's at least three local cultivars named specifically for places in Cameroon including Bamenda, Buea, and Bamoun-each with slightly different bitterness levels.
As with Solanum nigrum, the bugs love to perforate the leaves of the plants so I've been having to buy mine.
The recipe itself is a simple simple dish of greens similar to Southern recipes for smothered greens. It's often served as a vegetable side dish with fufu or fufu corn-a sort of polenta made from starchy vegetables like cassava and plantain that's kneaded in a pot until very thick. My second cousin (whose wife is from Kenya) told me in Eastern Africa the starch mixture is known as ugali.
You can make fresh fufu with a cassava (yuca) root and green plantain. Or, if you need training wheels (like me) you can buy fufu flour online or at African and Asian grocers.
Palm oil is another essential ingredient. Although it gets a bad rap for its use in heavily processed foods, the real deal is a healthy, natural fat, and I wouldn't dare make the recipe without it and call it Njama Njama. You can buy unfiltered palm oil online or at your local Asian or African grocer. While not traditional, coconut oil is a good substitute as it has a high melting point.
The other traditional accompaniment to njama njama is khati khati: African grilled chicken that's been cooked in palm oil. Turkey wings are used in some versions, so that's what I used with mine.
The meat can be served alongside the greens or mixed into them, similar to Southern recipes for turnip greens and collards.
Step-by-Step Fufu Corn and Njama Njama Recipe
Common ingredients for njama njama are peeled, chopped tomatoes, onion, shallot or leek, palm oil and whole habanero peppers. Garden huckleberry leaves are the most traditional green I see used, but some recipes use turnip greens.
How to Make Fufu
If you're making fufu at home to serve with the greens it should be made first. The fufu flour is mixed with cold water to prevent lumps, then heated on a stove until it thickens.
Switching to a wooden spoon or high-temperature spatula, the mixture is kneaded over medium heat until very firm, about 5-10 minutes.
Next the fufu is portioned into balls and wrapped in cling film to prevent it forming a skin. From here it can be made in a few days in advance.
Garden Huckleberry Leaves
The greens can be cooked fresh, but many recipes call for blanched, frozen greens which will be less bitter. Personally, I enjoy the bitter flavor of the greens, which is much milder than, say, dandelions.
To make the dish, firs onion is cooked with palm oil, then tomatoes, either pureed or chopped are added. The mixture is cooked slowly until the palm oil starts to visibly separate from the onion and tomato. A habanero chili or two is usually added, but won't be noticeably spicy unless the peppers are cut up.
Next the huckleberry greens area added to the pot. I add a splash of chicken stock, but many recipes will add a splash of water and Maggi bouillon cubes.
The greens are cooked until they're tender and soft, about 10-15 minutes depending on how old they are.
Once the greens are cooked and tender you pull off pieces of the fufu, using it to scoop up the greens. Knives are forks aren't used here, so you'll want to keep napkins handy.
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Njama Njama: Braised Garden Huckleberry Greens from Cameroon
Equipment
- 1 3 quart pot with high sides and a lid
- 1 wooden spoon
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unrefined palm oil
- 4 oz onion
- 2 T garlic
- 1-2 small habanero peppers optional
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 8 oz Garden huckleberry leaves / black nightshade greens
- 1 cup smoked turkey stock or chicken stock
- 4 oz Leftover smoked chicken or turkey Roughly chopped (optional)
Fufu / Ugali (optional)
- 1 cup fufu flour
- 1.5 cups water
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Njama Njama
- Sweat the garlic in the palm oil until aromatic, then add the onions, reduce the heat to medium and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato puree or chopped tomatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes on medium-low heat, or until the palm oil visibly separates from the mixture.
- Add the blanched or fresh nightshade greens and the chicken stock, cover the pot and simmer until the greens are very tender and the pan is nearly dry.
- At this point, a handful of cooked chicken or turkey can be added.
- Taste the greens and adjust the seasoning for salt, pepper and spiciness, stirring well. Taste and repeat the process until the greens taste good to you.
- Serve the njama njama with fufu, or simply as a side dish.
Fufu / Ugali
- Whisk the fufu flour, water and salt in a 1 quart sauce pot.
- Whisk constantly over medium high heat until it becomes too thick for the whisk.
- Switch to a wooden spoon or spatula and stir constantly for 5 minutes. kneading the paste and folding it over in the pan with the spoon.
- Divide the fufu into half on sheets of cling film. Wrap the hot fufu, forming it into balls. Cool and refrigerate until needed. It will continue to set as it cools.
Video
Notes
- 20 oz peeled yuca root, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 green plantain, cut into ½ inch slices
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
LaRae
Creative way to mix so many flavors!
Carla Beaudet
In ancient history, I lived in Baltimore and had a housemate from Jamaica. She tried to describe fufu to me, but was laughing so hard about it (don't remember why now, maybe because a white girl wanted to know about it?) that I never quite gathered what it was, exactly. Never followed up. I've seen cassavas and also packages of "fufu flour", but have never been motivated to make it. Might have to now. Unrefined palm oil is already in my pantry (Who could pass up that brilliant red-orange color?) and like most greens recipe, I imagine I could substitute almost anything for the "garden huckleberry"? What would be your guidance on that point?
Alan Bergo
Hey Carla. A lot of the "modern" recipes use turnip greens.