Matembele Recipe (Congolese Sweet Potato Leaf Stew)
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.
The preparation of matembele requires ingredients like chicken, red palm oil, onions, and fresh red African pili pili which give the dish lots of flavor. If you don’t have pili pili, substitute red habanero peppers. Matembele is supposed to be a bit hot.
Some people add eggplants to the stew, which are delicious, too. The chicken has to be simmered until fall-off-the bone tender and the broth is used to tie the flavors together. Jute leaves or spinach can be used as a substitute. The result will not be the same, but still the taste will still be satisfying. The stew calls for a generous amount of onions, they add such a depth of flavor to the leafy green stew. The red-orange palm oil, with its smoky flavor and vibrant color, gives the dish its authentic African stamp.
The stew is best served over a bed of steaming white rice. It is often paired with fufu as well. Fufu is a dough-like sticky paste made with cassava flour. It is meant to be eaten with your hands by tearing off bite sized balls and dipping them in stews and sauces. My personal preference is to eat matembele over white rice.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, about 1.5 kg (3 pounds 5 ounces)
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 3 cardamom pods
- 2 bay leaves
- 5 bundles of fresh sweet potato leaves (matembele leaves) - each bundle is about 1 kg (2 pounds), leaves only (discard the stems)
- 177 ml (¾ cup) palm oil
- 1 kg (2 pounds 4 ounces) onions, finely chopped
- 3- 4 red pili pili peppers or red habaneros, or to taste
- 4 chicken bouillon cubes (or the equivalent in granules or concentrate)
- Salt, as needed
Preparation
- Rinse the chicken and place in a large pot, adding enough water to cover. Place on high heat to bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boiling point, add the halved onion, cardamom pods and bay leaves. Spoon any foam out as it appears. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and fall-off-the bone tender, about 2 hours. While the chicken simmers, wash, drain and roughly chop the sweet potato leaves.
2. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon, debone and strip the meat into medium sized pieces. Set the stock aside.
3. Add the palm oil to a large stockpot and place over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until translucent. Add the chopped sweet potato leaves in batches, tossing and sautéing it all.
4. Pour 710 ml (3 cups) of the reserved chicken cooking broth over the wilted sweet potato leaves, and whole red peppers. Add the chicken strips and chicken bouillon. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Season with salt as needed.
5. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes to dry and thicken the sauce. Serve it with plain rice or fufu.*
*Sweet potato leaf stew may be cooled, covered, and frozen for up to three months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat over low heat.
Hadia Zebib Khanafer
Hadia Zebib is a cook, baker and author. Growing up, she never cared for cooking, though she loved watching her mom and granny cook. Having a family altered her perspective and reshuffled her priorities. As cooking became a necessary daily routine, she started collecting recipes and inventing dishes. She became utterly obsessed with cooking and in time the kitchen became a place of happiness and her meditation room. She acquired a reputation for being a good cook after entertaining dinner guests, and her husband encouraged her, telling her that she should write a cookbook. She started her food blog, Hadia’s Lebanese Cuisine. Over time, millions of people have visited her site in search of Lebanese and Middle Eastern recipes.
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