Igisafuri

Igisafuri means pot in Kinyarwanda, and the dish is named for its vessel in the same way potjiekos is in South Africa. Everything goes into one pot in stages, and what comes out is chicken, plantain and vegetables that have cooked into each other rather than alongside each other. The plantain is what makes it Rwandan. Cooking bananas and plantains are central to Rwandan agriculture and eating, grown on hillside smallholdings across the country in dozens of varieties, and a stew that uses them as its starch rather than serving rice beside it is doing something specific to the region. The plantains go in late and are submerged so they steam in the broth rather than boiling in water. It is unpretentious food. Rwandans describe it as a favourite precisely because the preparation asks so little of the cook, with everything going into one pot in stages and almost nothing to watch. The comparison people reach for is the Moroccan tagine, and it holds up as far as the method goes, though the ingredients are entirely different. Spinach goes over the plantains near the end and a whole hot pepper is dropped in for aroma rather than heat, which is a common way of handling chilli across the Great Lakes region.