Ingredients
- 2 kg cassava leaves, fresh or frozen, finely chopped
- 200 ml red palm oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 250 g smoked fish or meat, optional
- 1 stock cube
- Salt and pili-pili
- Water
Method
- 01 Wash the leaves, blanch briefly if very bitter, then chop finely.
- 02 Sweat onions and garlic in palm oil until soft.
- 03 Add the leaves, coat well with oil, then add a little water.
- 04 Cover and simmer gently 1 h to 1 h 15, stirring often, until creamy.
- 05 Add smoked fish or meat, the cube, salt and chili. Cook 15 minutes more.
- 06 Serve with bukari, fufu or rice.
Video tutorial
Feuilles de manioc (geste proche du sombe / pondu)
Video · letsCOOKwithELLE · Watch on YouTube
Sombe is the eastern name (Katanga, Kivu) for simmered cassava leaves—the same gesture as pondu / saka-saka in Kinshasa and the West. Oil, cooking time and smoked fish vary by household. In Lubumbashi it often sits beside bukari.
Variations
Other ways to cook this dish — similar gestures, different ingredients.
Vegetarian versionLeaves alone, no fish or meat — common on lean days.
Ingredients
- 2 kg cassava leaves, fresh or frozen, finely chopped
- 200 ml red palm oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 vegetable stock cube or salt
- Pili-pili
- Water
Method
- 01Wash the leaves, blanch briefly if needed, then chop finely.
- 02Sweat onions and garlic in palm oil.
- 03Add the leaves, coat with oil, add a little water.
- 04Cover and simmer 1 h 15 on low heat, stirring, until creamy.
- 05Season and serve with bukari or fufu.
Photo · Angéla Bérénice GOUNOUMOUNDJOU — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
With meatSombe enriched with simmered meat — festive Katanga tables.
Ingredients
- 2 kg cassava leaves, fresh or frozen, finely chopped
- 200 ml red palm oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 400 g beef in small pieces
- 1 stock cube
- Salt and pili-pili
- Water
Method
- 01Brown the meat, remove it. Sweat onions and garlic in the oil.
- 02Add the leaves and a splash of water; simmer 45 minutes.
- 03Return the meat and cook another 45 minutes until tender.
- 04Season and serve with bukari.
In the same spirit
Other recipes close by territory or by gesture.
-
Pondu (saka-saka)
Pondu (saka-saka) recipe: cassava leaves simmered in palm oil with onions and smoked fish—everyday Congolese classic from the DRC.
45 min prep · 1 h 30 cook
-
Bukari
Bukari recipe: hot-worked maize flour dough until smooth and dense—the central starch of Greater Katanga (Lubumbashi).
5 min prep · 20 min cook
-
Matembele with peanuts
Matembele recipe: sweet potato leaves simmered with tomato and peanuts — Greater Katanga green, often served with bukari.
25 min prep · 35 min cook