What are popular foods of Congo?
Hadia Zebib Khanafer grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, in a family where food was the source of togetherness. She lived in Congo, central sub-Saharan Africa, for over thirty years.
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Most locals in Congo live on cassava leaves, sweet potato leaves, rice, potatoes, bananas, beans, yams, fish, chicken, meat, groundnuts and various tropical fruits including bananas, mangoes, pineapples, papayas, passionfruit and more; expats enjoy the fact that veggies and fruits are organic by nature and meat is grass-fed which is something scarce nowadays on our planet! Congo has innumerable national dishes, stews and street foods that are wonderfully aromatic and filled with so many goodies, here are some great foods worth recognizing.
- Moambe is another popular dish that is made with chicken and palm nuts and served with plain rice.
- Saka Saka / Pondu: made with ground casava leaves and cooked with red palm oil and peanut paste. (A favorite of mine that started to gain popularity outside of Congo)
- Madesu: is a white bean stew cooked with palm oil and tomato paste, served with rice or fufu.
- Chicken Peanut Stew: made with roasted crushed peanuts and tied together with chicken broth.
- Dongo Dongo: the main ingredient is okra in this stew, simmered with tomato paste and smoked fish, it is common to add peanut paste, served with rice or fufu.
- Makayabu: prepared with salted fish and vegetables, and served with rice.
- Fumbwa: A leafy vegetable, diced and cooked with fish or chicken, onions and tomatoes (onions and tomatoes are pounded together to create a paste like consistency), and a handful of peanut paste is added to balance flavors. Fumbwa is served with fufu.
- Ngai Ngai: a kind of tropical sorrel that has a favored tangy undertone, usually cooked with fish and red palm oil and served with fufu or chikwanga. I use it as a filling for Lebanese fatayer, way better than the classic spinach filling, and I introduced my experience to my Lebanese friends in Congo, they were fascinated by the taste.
- Chikwanga: a side dish prepared by pounding cassava leaves and wrapping it on banana leaves, tied together, steamed and served with various stews to balance flavors.
- Fufu: is another side dish that has a sticky texture made of cassava flour and meant to be eaten scooped by hand, an everyday staple side.
- Pili Pili sauce: a hot red pepper condiment served nearly with every dish or regarded as a flavor supplement while cooking, unbelievably good! I make my own, it keeps well in the fridge.
- Boiled Sweet Potato wedges with roasted peanuts: are a common no brainer of a street food meal that locals enjoy during lunch break or as an afterwork snack.
- Grilled plantains and corn on the cob are popular street foods that locals and expats enjoy them warm off the grill.
- Bread: is a common street food in Congo, where street vendors make sure to have plentiful supply to satisfy passerby’s munchies, very common to eat it with margarine.
- Roasted or boiled peanuts: are a popular street food snack, they are so addictive!
- Desserts: In Congo, when it comes to locals, they are not a dessert eating community and have a limited variety of desserts. They focus more on the wide range of tropical fruits; however, there is a one classic Congolese specialty street food dessert called “Beignets”! Kids and grownups wake up in the morning before heading to school or work and enjoy them as a sweet grab and go breakfast. Wander in the popular national neighborhoods and you will find street stands of ladies frying beignet in every corner, they are soft and pillowy balls, fried to golden-brown and served warm, they are not overly sweet.
