FR
Glass of red bissap juice
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Bissap juice

A sweet infusion of dried hibiscus flowers (bissap), deep red and tart — a drink, distinct from ngai-ngai cooked as a dish.

Region
Kinshasa & Western DRC
Category
Drink
Prep
10 min + cooling
Cook
20 min
Serves
8 people
Level
easy
Photo · Sebleouf — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
8

Ingredients

  • 80 g dried bissap (hibiscus) flowers
  • 2 l water
  • 150 to 200 g sugar
  • Juice of 1 lemon, optional
  • A few mint leaves or a vanilla stick, optional

Method

  1. 01 Rinse the flowers briefly. Bring them to a boil in the water.
  2. 02 Lower the heat and infuse 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. 03 Strain. Sweeten while still warm so the sugar dissolves.
  4. 04 Add lemon and aromatics if desired. Cool, then refrigerate.
  5. 05 Serve iced.

Bissap as a drink is not ngai-ngai in sauce: same hibiscus flowers, different gesture — a sweet infusion here, a savoury simmer where ngai-ngai is a dish.

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