World ›
Street food ›
DR Congo ›
Kinshasa
Kinshasa Street Food
5 dishes in DR Congo
5 street foods from Kinshasa, DR Congo: Poulet à la Moambe, Fumbwa, Saka-Saka, Tshaka Madesu and Poisson Braisé de Kinkole. Each one has its own page with the story behind it and what to look for.
Street foods of Kinshasa
National Dish · Palm-Nut Stew
Poulet à la Moambe (Chicken in Palm Nut Sauce)
Moambe isn't a spice blend — it's the pounded pulp of the same red palm fruit crushed across Central Africa for cooking oil, simmered down into the…
Chicken pieces are browned, then slow-simmered in a thick sauce made from pounded red palm nut pulp, tomato, garlic and chili until the meat is tender and the sauce turns deep orange…
Malewa Staple · Wild Forest Green
Fumbwa (Wild Spinach with Peanuts)
Fumbwa is a wild forest vine, Gnetum africanum, that's foraged rather than farmed — vendors dry and shred it before it ever reaches a Kinshasa…
Dried, shredded Gnetum africanum leaves are simmered with ground peanuts, palm oil and often smoked fish into a rich, slightly bitter sauce, ladled generously over fufu or rice at malewa…
Pounded Greens · Everyday Sauce
Saka-Saka (Pounded Cassava Leaves)
Raw cassava leaves contain natural cyanide-producing compounds, so cooks pound them fine and simmer them for hours — a step that isn't optional…
Cassava leaves are washed, then pounded to a fine paste in a mortar and pestle before simmering for hours with palm oil, ground peanuts and smoked fish until deep green and soft. Sold…
Malewa Bowl · Beans & Greens
Tshaka Madesu (Beans & Cassava Leaf Stew)
Instead of serving beans and cassava leaves as two separate sides, Kinshasa cooks simmer them down together in one pot, so every spoonful carries…
Red kidney beans are boiled until soft, then finished in the same pot as pounded cassava leaves, palm oil and seasoning, producing a hearty, two-in-one stew. It's one of the cheapest full…
Riverside Grill · Kinkole Style
Poisson Braisé de Kinkole (Braised River Fish)
Kinkole, the Congo River fishing port on Kinshasa's eastern edge, has grown into an entire open-air restaurant strip built around this one plate of…
Whole river fish is scored, seasoned and braised over open charcoal at riverside grills in Kinkole and Maluku, then served with grilled plantain and a side of chikwangue, eaten by hand at…
More of DR Congo