Southern Africa · Side
Chibwabwa (Braised Pumpkin Leaves with Tomato and Onion)
Silky, tender pumpkin greens braised in sweet tomato gravy and enriched with pounded roasted peanuts for a quintessential Zambian relish.
The story
Ubiquitous across Zambian homesteads and kitchen gardens, chibwabwa is an indispensable leafy side dish prepared across all provinces during the fertile rainy and harvest months. The delicate leaves are prepared as dende or ndiwo, the essential relish designed to be scooped with pieces of hot nshima. A signature technical skill among Zambian cooks is stringing the outer fibrous spine (ku-fola) from the back of each leaf, without which the cooked vegetable remains stubbornly tough and prickly on the palate.
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