Congo (Republic)
Palm butter, cassava leaf and river fish — the twin of its bigger neighbour, moambe chicken and all.
Across the river from Kinshasa, Brazzaville eats much the same way — and both Congos claim poulet moambe as their own. It's chicken stewed in moambe, the tangy pulp of the palm nut, rich and orange and just a little sour, served over rice, fufu or saka-saka, cassava leaves pounded and simmered with palm oil and smoked fish.
Cassava runs through everything — as soft fufu dough, as the dense fermented chikwangue loaf, as those pounded leaves. The great Congo River supplies the protein: tilapia and capitaine grilled over coals, or wrapped tight in banana leaves and steamed, the liboke that keeps every juice inside. Snack on safou, the purple 'butter fruit', and drink a cold N'Gok or a gourd of village palm wine. Homely, palm-rich forest cooking.
- Poulet moambe (chicken in palm-nut sauce)
- Saka-saka (pounded cassava-leaf stew)
- Liboke (fish steamed in banana leaf)
- Fufu (cassava dough staple)
- Chikwangue (fermented cassava loaf)
- Safou (African 'butter' pear)
- N'Gok (local lager)
