National Dishes of the World

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Isombe
Photo: Mutiganda, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish vegan

Isombe

Rwandan cassava leaves stewed with aubergine, spinach and peanut butter in palm oil.

Eaten in: Burundi, Rwanda

Prep
20 min
Cooking
1 h 40 min
Total
2 h
Servings
4

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About the dish

Isombe is the Rwandan and Burundian take on stewed cassava leaves. The pounded leaves are cooked for a long time, then stewed with onion, green pepper, aubergine and spinach and finished with peanut butter and palm oil, which makes the dish thick, silky and gently nutty. Dried fish or meat is sometimes added. It is eaten with ubugari, boiled ibitoke bananas, sweet potatoes or rice, and is one of the most everyday yet best-loved dishes in both countries.

Main ingredients

  • cassava leaves
  • aubergine
  • spinach
  • onion
  • green pepper
  • peanut butter
  • palm oil

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Isombe

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/isombe

Ingredients

4 servings

4 servings

Method

  1. Simmer the cassava leaves in the water, partly covered, over low heat for an hour, stirring now and then.

  2. Dice the aubergine, chop the onion, garlic and pepper, and roughly chop the spinach.

  3. Add the aubergine, onion, garlic and pepper to the leaves and cook for 20 minutes.

  4. Stir in the spinach and the peanut butter loosened with a little hot water and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.

  5. Add the palm oil, season with salt and cook for another 10 minutes until thick.

  6. Serve with ubugari, boiled cooking bananas or rice.

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