Our Gotcha Day Celebration

Last Wednesday, January 15th, we celebrated our Gotcha Day.  Two years from that date, we met our son Zalen for the first time.  In fact most of the month of January I am a bit of an emotional mess.  I was so excited to try out some recipes from my new "Congolese Keepsake Cookbook".  Interested in snagging a copy, just head over to CreationsForCongo.  I do believe she has a few more copies for sell.  Last year I cooked mpondu from frozen cassava and chicken in peanut-tomato sauce.  If you want a few more ideas on celebrating Gotcha Day or just some fun ideas to share Congolese culture you can check out that post as well: One Year Celebration.

When the kids arrived home from school we had french fries (pomme frites) that we dipped in mayo.  The Congolese love their mayo and when dining in-country they always served fries with a side of it.  

I decided as a main course I would make Meat Moambé.  Moambé is often considered the national dish of Congo.  What I really missed was the pili pili.  Last year I found a sauce at a store that sold ethnic foods.  I had picked up some palm oil at the natural foods store and some Cassava chips as well. I served the Moambé over rice.

 

After getting the rice on, I started on simple nguba soup, another recipe found in my Congolese Keepsake cookbook.  I wanted something we could dip our Fufu in.

 

With the nguba soup simmering I was ready to test out my arm muscles on some good ol fufu.  For the record I am not a fan of fufu.  Last year Zalen ate it up.  This year even he didn't like it as well.  

 

Even after stirring it like crazy and having Craig come in to help I still don't think I got it to the desired consistency.  The year before I had used a mix that I found at the same store I got the hot pili-pili like sauce.  I was hoping the above combination would make the fufu taste a little better.  It really didn't.  

Here is a look at the finished meal.  Everyone enjoyed the Moambé.  They said the peanut soup was ok.  I don't think anyone was a fan of the fufu.  

 

 

This boy was excited about the food and celebrating his beautiful Congolese heritage.   Of course we had Fanta to drink. 

The best we saved for last - Fried plantains rolled in a bit of sugar.  Yum! 

All in all, it was a fun celebration.  Craig asked if I was going to cook Lebanese next year because we ate that a few times while in-country.  We will see.

Happy Two Years home Zalen Moise Fuller!  

We are so thankful for the gift of you in our lives.