Palaver sauce

Palaver sauce or palava sauce (or plasas) is a type of stew widely eaten in West Africa, including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone. The word palaver, meaning a talk, lengthy debate or quarrel, derives from the Portuguese language; palavra in general use means "speech" or "word", with its origins ultimately from the Late Latin noun parabola, meaning "speech" or "parable". It is unclear how this led to the name of the stew. One theory is that the spices used in the stew mingle together like raised voices in an argument. It has been thought of as having the power to calm tensions, or to cause them. Other names for the dish include kontonmire, kentumere, nkontommire and pla'sas.

It has regional variations and can contain beef, fish, shrimp, pepitas, cassava, taro (cocoyam) leaves, and palm oil. It is served with boiled rice, potatoes, garri, fufu or yam. Outside of Africa, spinach is often used as a substitute for other greens. The leaves used to make this soup in Liberia are called molokhia or mulukhiyah leaves.

The name "palava sauce" is said to originate from the people of Elmina, on the south-east coast of Ghana.