From the steppes of Mongolia where we made milk tea with dumplings, we head down to Central Africa and visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the DRC, we make vegan fumbwa or fumbua, a creamy stew with leafy greens, peanuts and smoked tofu. Read on to learn a bit about the dish or jump straight to the recipe.

Cuisine of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the DRC, is the 2nd the largest country in Africa after Algeria and home to over 90 million people. Despite its size and rich access to natural resources, such as oil, mining and forestry, most of the population live below the poverty line ​[1]​. Locally grown vegetables and starches are the mainstay of Congolese cuisine with meat and fish eaten on occasion. Local vegetables include tomatoes, okra, leafy greens, onions and numerous starches such as plantain, yams and taro ​[1]–[3]​. Just like in West Africa, Ground nuts, or peanuts, are a common food (remember our very early visit to Gambia where we made Domoda?). And just as we learned during our recent visit to the DRC’s neighbor Angola, red palm oil is an important fat source that adds tons of flavour .

Cassava is a very important staple and both the leaves and especially the tubers are eaten. The cassava root is often boiled and crushed to make fufu, a porridge like side dish used as both food and utensil. Fufu is popular across both Central and Western Africa as well as in the Caribbean and can be made from many different starches but cassava seems to be most popular in the DRC. Cassava flour can also be steamed in banana leaves to create kwanga, sometimes referred to as cassava sticks or cassava bread ​[4]​. Fufu and kwanga are often enjoyed alongside different stews, such as moamba (roasted chicken with palm oil), saka saka (boiled cassava leaves with groundnuts and red palm oil), or madesu (beans with palm oil and ground nuts).

Vegan fumbwa

Fumbwa, also spelled fumbua and mfumbwa, is a classic Congolese stew from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The dish is named after the fumbwa plant, a vine that grows in the forests of Central Africa. For the stew, the leaves are cooked with peanuts, red palm oil and smoked catfish ​[5]–[8]​. Onion, leek or scallions, are added for extra flavour, along with tomatoes and sometimes bell pepper ​[6]​ or habanero ​[5]​. For this vegan fumbwa recipe, I chose to replace the smoked catfish with smoked tofu, to preserve some of the smokiness found in the original dish. To prepare the dish, everything is simply boiled together in one pot and enjoyed with kwanga, fufu, or boiled plantain, yam or rice.

Fumbwa leaf substitute

The authentic version of fumbwa stew calls for the use of fumbwa leaves, a vine that is foraged in the forests of tropical Africa ​[9]​. The leaves kind of resemble coffee leaves or bay leaves, see photo by T.K. Naliaka on the right. The plant’s latin name is Gnetum Africanum and it’s also known as eru, koko, African joint fir along with many other names, depending on where you live ​[10]​. If you’re lucky, you could find this either dried or frozen in a well stocked Central African or pan-African grocery store in your area. In the recipe below, I substituted fumbwa leaves with chard. Many recipes simply use spinach ​[11], [12]​ or call for any leafy greens, like collard greens, kale, or cassava leaves ​[13]​.

Conclusion

The fumbwa stew I amde turned out really nice, with rich creaminess from the peanuts, a slight smokiness from the smoked tofu and a hint of red palm oil. Last time I used red palm oil, for our visit to neighbouring Angola, I used too much of it. This time I was much more restrictive and the palm oil instead took a background role. While I did not manage to get some authentic fumbwa leaf for this recipe, using swiss chard as a fumbwa leaf substitute seems to have worked well (though I don’t know what fumbwa leaves actually taste like). I chose to eat the fumbwa with boiled sweet potatoes which worked really well as an alternative to making my own fufu or kwanga.

Vegan fumbwa recipe

Print

Vegan fumbwa

Fumbwa, or mfumbwa, is a Congolese comfort food where leafy greens, red palm oil and ground peanuts are boiled together to create a rich stew. In this vegan version, the traditional smoked fish is replaced with smoked tofu.

Course Main Course, Stew

Cuisine Central African, Congolese

Keyword Peanuts, red palm oil, stew

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 2 bunches leafy greens, such as mangold, kale, chard or spinach or fumbwa leaves if you can find them
• 150-200 mL peanut butter
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 2-3 scallions, sliced or leek
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 50 mL red palm oil
• 1 pack smoked tofu, cut into small strips ~200 g
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp nutmeg, ground
• 300 mL water

Instructions

• Slice the leafy greens into thin strips, about 3-5 cm long. Chop and slice the rest of the vegetables. Crush the garlic cloves with the flat side of the knife.
• Add all ingredients, including water, to a large pot.
• Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 1 h. Stir frequently, the peanut butter likes to stick to the bottom. Adjust texture with water if needed.
• Serve with fufu, kwanga, rice or boiled yams or plantain.

References