When I was researching the food for Congo I came across a youtube channel called letsCOOKwithELLE which is where I got my recipe for Congolese jollof rice or Loso ya Bulayi. While deep in research I got curious about the differences between Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa, or Congo Republic and D.R.C. It is an area that I knew nothing about to be completely honest and I was very curious about the differences between the countries seeing as they are neighbours after all. It was interesting to learn that they share the name Congo because of the river but actually D.R.C used to be called Zaire for a while. While both countries economies rely on similar resources and their cuisine uses similar ingredients there are some marked differences between the two.
As I was researching I became completely engrossed in the food of each country and I was too tempted by both to only do one this week - and so I completely skipped the rest of the countries beginning with C (you might have noticed I'm trying to cook them in alphabetical order, but occasionally I get so tempted it all goes out the window! See Thailand, or Hungary as examples!) and cooked a dish for both Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa. I'm writing a shared post for both because the moambe chicken that I cooked is the national dish of both countries as I found out during my research, but also I was so overcome by excitement that I put both the rice and the chicken on the same plate without realising and so I only have one photo to share!
For Congo republic I used Elle's delicious jollof rice for which you can find the recipe here. The only adaptation I made was that I didn't switch the pots and it came out quite well. Out of the two this was my favourite as it reminded me of cheese rice in Colombia which is cooked in a similar way but then has parmesan added to it!
For DRC I made Moambe Chicken, a delicious stewed chicken with a tomato and peanut butter sauce. The recipe I followed is here with thanks to Patrick Jaszewski.
Below are the recipes, and while they were both delicious I wouldn't necessarily pair them together as I was craving something plainer for the stew and the rice wasn't allowed to shine through when surrounded by sauce!
Rice:
Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
3 tbsp vegetable oil (the recipe said 5 but suggested it might be oily so we could reduce to taste which I did)
1/2 an onion
3 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp of seasoning (salt, or chicken stock)
2 cups of water.
Method:
Wash the rice until the water runs clear. Set aside.
Dice the onion and set aside.
Heat oil on medium heat in a large saucepan (with a lid). Add the onion and sautee. Then add the seasoning or salt, and tomato paste.
Reduce heat to low, then add the rice and make sure it's all covered.
Add the water, bring it to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Chicken:
Ingredients
My main amendment to this recipe is that I didn't use palm oil as I couldn't find any. I believe it has quite a distinct flavour so if you can find it I would recommend instead of plain oil.
1kg chicken pieces
6 tbsp oil
2 onions, diced
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
150g tomato paste
1 can of diced tomatoes
2cm ginger root, grated
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup water
salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
½ cup (125g) natural peanut butter
Method:
Heat heavy large saucepan and add the oil. Heat on medium-high heat and add the oil.
Once the oil is hot sear the chicken in batches until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side, remove and set-aside
Turn heat to medium-low and sauté onions until golden brown, add garlic stirring constantly and cook until fragrant.
Add tomato paste and cook for a further about 3 minutes
Add diced tomatoes, ginger, red pepper flakes, water, salt and the chicken you set aside earlier.
Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove about 1 cup of sauce from the pan and mix with peanut butter until it dissolves. Return this sauce to the saucepan and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until the chicken is soft and tender.
Serve with rice.
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