Congolese Cooking & One Year Celebration

I have no idea where time is going.  It keeps slipping by.  My poor blog is neglected.  I hang my head in shame that I didn't even share about our one year home celebration or my first attempt at trying to cook Congolese food.

First was the preparation, finding ingredients in po-dink-ville.  Po-dink-ville is defined is living 1 hour from the nearest Starbucks.  (yes, please feel sorry for me)  A google search revealed a grocery store that carried a wide selection of foods that I might be interested in, an hour away of course.  So I made plans with a friend to visit the store.  We browsed through many items with labels we could not read and finally reached the African section.

I purchased some FuFu mix, frozen Cassava leaves, Palm oil, red sauce/stew very similar to Pili Pili I think because it was SPICY!  

Then I attempted to make some Pondu.  Keep in mind if you look up what cassava is wikipedia will show you the picture to the left and define cassava as:

a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy, tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates.

Got all that?  Now here is the funny part (if you share my warped sense of humor).....

Like other roots and tubers, Cassava contains anti-nutrition factors and toxins.^[5] It must be properly prepared before consumption. Improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication and goiters, and may even cause ataxia or partial paralysis

So as you can see, Congolese cooking is a major endeavor on my part.  If not cooked properly I could poison my family.  I could paralyze people with my cooking?!  Now this is a new level of cooking people!  I pressed on, determined to bring Zalen a taste of Africa here in America. 

First I added a bit of water and began to unthaw and cook my frozen cassava leaves. You have to cook them for quite awhile.  I watched a video of a guy cooking the leaves so kind of based it off that.  Not sure what the difference is between Plassas and Pondu.  I have a lot to learn.  Here is the video: Sierra Leone Recipe: Cassave Leaf Plassas  We added shallots to the cassava because I forgot to pick up some fish.  It was what we had in the freezer and was actually quite good, but probably not authentic.  I would say adding a cooked sardine would more closely resemble the original dish.

 

While the cassava cooked I diced up some chicken and cooked it up with a few onions and garlic.  Then I cooked up a tomato/peanut sauce for the chicken.  I found the recipe here: Chicken in Peanut-Tomato Sauce.

 

In the Congo peanuts are often called ground nuts.  The above picture is at Zalen's orphanage where they shared some of these ground nuts with us.  Craig and I both tried a few.  I actually wanted to use fresh peanuts for this recipe as I had some leftover from Christmas, but ran out of time and just used creamy peanut butter.  

Instead of serving over rice, I made some Couscous that I found in the African food section of the store.  According to the Congo Cookbook website: Couscous (Cous-cous or Cous cous) is a traditional staple food in North Africa; it is also common in Western Africa whence it has spread into Central Africa. Couscous is a pasta, made by mixing flour and water to form a paste which is then formed and dried. Most couscous is made with flour ground from durum wheat, but rice, maize (corn), or cowpea (black-eyed pea) flours are sometimes used. Home-made couscous is rare these days; even in rural Africa most people buy ready-to-use couscous from a store or market.

The last two components to the dish were boiled yams that I salted and peppered and some fufu that I made from a mix. I am not a fan of fufu.

Here is a look at the dishes all together:

Below is Zalen eating his Congolese meal in the Congo.  

The one thing I didn't get done was the fried plantains.  I did make them later on that week.

For dessert we had some Africa shaped sugar cookies

 

After dinner we looked through photos of our time in Africa and played a couple of games.  We had a race to see who could balance certain items on their heads and make back and forth across the leaving room.  Craig did it the traditional way.  One of my favorite memories is when we were packing up to leave for the airport and we gave Zalen something to carry so he could help.  He put it on his head and walked down the hallway.  :-)

 

I also taught the girls how to play Tobeta Maboko

Tobeta Maboko

This is a very popular African clapping game, often played at school or between household tasks. It is essentially played like the “Rock, Scissors, Paper” game, only it is done with the hands and feet to a clapping beat.

First, the clapping beat: The beat is 1,2,3, pause, 1,2,3, pause, 1!
Second, the action: As the players clap the last, single beat, they jump into the air. Then in a quick motion, as they are about to land, they make their choice.

The choices are:
1. Right foot out in front
2. Left foot out in front
3. Feet split apart side-by-side

If you want, you can make up your own way of scoring these three outcomes. Or you can use “Rock, Scissors, Paper” to help you score. When the right foot is forward you can call that “ROCK,” as it begins with “R.” You can call the split “SCISSORS,” since it begins with “S.” When the left foot is forward, you can call it “PAPER,” the only choice left. (You know how those go, don’t you? The kids will know!)

The players should be looking at each other’s faces and not at their feet. The game can be played with any number of participants or in small groups.

And remember: If you think you’re not doing the game right, don’t worry about it. It’s a game! You can even let the kids make their own rules. If they’re having fun with it, that’s all that counts.

from Paul Carlson.org

Love my crew :-)