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Sauce Dah (Sour Roselle Leaf Sauce with Smoked Catfish)
Tender beef and smoked catfish simmered in a tart roselle greens sauce enriched with smooth peanut butter.
The story
Throughout southern Mali, Mande-speaking families gather for midday lunch over bowls of hot Tô coated with emerald Sauce Dah. The dish relies on the natural acidity of green roselle leaves balanced by the rich, earthy depth of toasted peanut paste and pungent fermented locust beans. Historically, home cooks mastered the addition of a trace of potash water, which not only softens the fibrous roselle stems quickly but also chemically stabilizes the bright green chlorophyll in the acidic liquor.
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