DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

SEASON 3 EPISODE 1

Democratic Republic of the Congo also known as Congo and formerly called Zaire is an African country located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa after Algeria and eleventh largest country in the world by land area. It’s capital city is Kinshasa found at the Congo River. Some of the major languages spoken are French, Lingala, Kiswahili, Kikongo and Tshiluba.

We’d be taking a tour around this African country discovering it’s cultural heritage from Food to Tribes to Clothing to Languages to Places.

Today, we’d be looking at two of the country’s most eaten foods, Chicken Moambe Stew which is the country’s official dish and the Chikwanga.

CHICKEN MOAMBE STEW

It’s the national dish of both the Congo as well as the DR Congo.

Ingredients

• Chicken meat
• Organic red palm oil
• Peanut oil
• Natural peanut butter
• Tomato paste and ground tomatoes
• Ground chilli pepper or cayenne pepper
• Chopped onions
• Chopped garlic
• Salt
• Water
  
  

Method of Preparation

1. Put 4 tbsp. of peanut oil in a pot and heat over high heat.
2. Add the chicken meat to the heated oil and allow it to turn golden brown.
3. Remove the chicken from the oil and organic palm oil to the pot and reduce the heat.
4. Add the chopped onions and saute (fry quickly in hot oil) until it turns light brown.
5. Add the tomato paste and ground tomatoes with ground pepper, chopped garlic, salt and stir well and cook.
6. Add the chicken meat to the pot, mix together and increase heat to allow it to cook well.
7. Reduce the heat after a while and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Serve with rice.
   
   

CHIKWANGA

Also called Kwanga is a savory traditional food eaten by the people of Democratic Republic of Congo which is made from cassava flour and is wrapped in dry banana leaves then steamed.

Ingredients

• Fresh cassava roots
• Banana leaves
• Cloth thread to tie
• Water
  
  

Method of Preparation

1. Peel the cassava tubers, cut them into chunks and soak them inside a bowl of water for 3-4 days.
2. After 3-4 days of soaking and the cassava chunks are soft, drain out the water and wash the cassava chunks severally with clean water.
3. Place the cassava chunks inside a mortar and use a pestle to mash it into a smooth dough.
4. Separate, roll and wrap the paste in batches inside the banana leaves, shape it and tie with the cloth thread.
5. Place the wrapped cassava dough inside a pot of boiling water and allow it to cook well for hours.
6. After cooking well for hours, remove from heat and serve with moambe stew or any soup or sauce of your choice.
   
   

You should try out these amazing dishes and share with your friends and family!

Written and edited by Ebenezer Oladokun