Matthew's Favorite Traditional Congolese Food
Hi my name is Gracias Matthew Manzongo. I was born in Democratic Republic of the Congo and now I live in Phoenix, Arizona. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Congo Kinshasa, to make the difference between the two different Congos, we have a lot of traditional dishes. We're not really big on snacks I would say but we have a few things that are, you know, pretty good that I'll actually recommend to even Americans, you know, if you visit, if you happen to visit, you should definitely try it. This one thing we call Ntaba, which is basically goat meat, but it's barbecued.
Not with a lot of sauce or anything like that. Not like barbecue sauce or anything like that, but just like goat meat, it's barbecue dry and you know, you have chili with it. So you have this dish which is called kwanga.
And the way it's made is that you take the roots of the cassava tree, right? You take the roots and then you grind the roots. You press it and then you ferment it in water for a while and then afterwards it becomes, it gives you this gummy texture, like a gummy bear. You know that texture. It's a bit hard to be soft and you eat it with, uh, the, the barbecued goat meat that I just mentioned earlier and yeah, it's pretty good. It's one of the favorite dish all over the country. Everywhere. You know, a lot in a lot of pubs, bars and stuff like that. They actually serve it.
So does this dish called lituma and this dish called liboke. Now liboke is fish.
So basically you put the fish into the, the leaf. The banana leaf you put the fish in it, you put the herbs, you put the sauce, you put the spices, and then you wrap it, you close it, you put it into hot water and it cooks like that, right? And then the herbs and spices and the sauce, all of it just marinates into the fish with that hot water. And then afterwards you take it out.
Then the lituma is simply plantains, you know, bananas and you, you press it, you press it for like a long for, wow. Like a long time. You press it, you press, you press it, and then it becomes, uh, becomes doughy. You know, it becomes like a doughy texture, and then you eat it together and you eat it with your hands.
-Gracias Matthew Manzongo