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Isombe is a typical Rwandan stew made from mashed cassava leaves and other ingredients such as tomatoes, onions, coriander, garlic, seasoning, and peanut butter. The dish often has a meaty flavor although it contains no meat due to the usage of stock from boiled beef bones.
Isombe is traditionally served with rice or beans on the side.
What is in Isombe?
Originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and found its way down into Burundi and Rwanda. This flavorful green dish is made out of cassava (manioc leaves) and other vegetables that give it a unique flavor and much nutritional value.
The sought-after cassava leaves are rich in protein (100 grams of cooked cassava leaves provide about 3.7 grams of protein!), fiber, vitamin C, beta carotene, potassium, iron zinc, manganese, and magnesium. It contributes to building healthy bones and maintaining digestion.
Isombe Recipe
One of the things I love about this recipe is that it’s not time-consuming: only 2 hours of cooking and a few minutes of preparation and you are ready to eat, so bye-bye to a full day of cooking!
This recipe relies on other greens to elevate the overall taste, not meat bones as we often see in many recipes. So this could be economical and a great way for the vegans/ vegetarians also to enjoy this delicacy.
Tips For Making the Perfect Isombe
- Prepare Isombe Properly: Eating raw or incorrectly prepared cassava can lead to severe side effects, due to the naturally-occurring cyanide present in raw cassava leaves.
- The leaves matter: Be sure of the quality bought from the market. The market sometimes adds some rough parts of the leaves that make it time-consuming to cook.
- Spinach is Key: It balances out the bitterness, do not skip this at whatever cost!
- Buy Quality Palm Oil and shake it to make sure you don’t only use the upper oil.
- Do not rush the first hour of boiling, this is where you get rid of the grassy unpleasant taste.
- If you would like, add some captain fish fillet: to add this, boil it in another pot with some spices, and add it to the isombe during the last 20 minutes; mackerel fish is another wonderful alternative.
Be sure to recreate this incredible delicacy that is not only delicious but also full of proteins, fiber, and tons of vitamins like iron and calcium needed for your body. Bon appétit!
Isombe Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg cassava leaves (Pounded)
- 1 package spinach
- 4 green onions or leak, chopped
- 2 green peppers
- ¼ litre palm oil (high-quality)
- 4-5 serving spoons ground nuts
- 3 Magi cubes
- 3 beef spice cubes
- Salt – to taste
- 2 litres water
Instructions
- In a pot, cover the cassava leaves with cold water and bring to a boil. Then strain the water out, and bring it back to the pot and boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Prepare the other vegetables, cutting them in small pieces and add to the pot. Mix and boil for another 15 minutes.
- Add the palm oil and the ground nuts and keep stirring to avoid it sticking on the pot which will lead it to burn.
- Season with salt and the other spices.
- Reduce the heat to minimum and simmer for 30 min to 1 hour.
- Serve over rice, ubugari or your preferred main dish.
Notes
- Prepare Isombe Properly: Eating raw or incorrectly prepared cassava can lead to severe side effects, due to the naturally-occurring cyanide present in raw cassava leaves.
- The leaves matter: Be sure of the quality buy from the market. Market sometimes adds some rough parts of the leaves that make it time-consuming to cook.
- Spinach is Key: It balances out the bitterness, do not skip this at whatever cost!
- Buy Quality Palm Oil and shake it to make sure you don’t only use the upper oil.
- Do not rush the first hour of boiling, this is where you get rid of the grassy unpleasant taste.
- If you would like, add some captain fish fillet: to add this, boil it in another pot with some spices, and add it to the isombe during the last 20 minutes; mackerel fish is another wonderful alternative.
