"Unapotayarisha sombe, ni muhimu kuhakikisha tunapata pia vitafunio ili tupate virutubisho vyote muhimu... Ikiwa unayo sombe, unaweza kuwa na samaki au nyama kama vitafunio. Kwa sababu hapa tunapata chuma, na kwenye nyama tunapata protini."

“When you cook sombe, we have to make sure we also have sides so that we have all the essential nutrients.... If you have sombe you’re either going to have fish or you’re going to have meat on the side. Because in here we have iron and in here--in the meat we have protein.”

Viungo / Ingredients

Majani ya muhogo yaliyohifadhiwa kwa baridi / Frozen cassava leaves
Karoti ya manjani / Celery
Pupu / Leek
Biringanya / Eggplant
Pilipili ya kijani / Green pepper
Vikombe 2 vya mafuta ya ufuta au mafuta ya njugu / 2 cups palm oil or canola oil
Chumvi / Salt
Kitunguu sumu (hiari) / Garlic (optional)
Spinachi (hiari) / Spinach (optional)

Maelekezo / Instructions

1. Tiya maji kwenye sufuria hadi ichemke, kisha ongeza majani ya muhogo (sombe). "Kwa sababu tunanunua hii dukani, hatujui jinsi wanavyoipika. Kwa hivyo, tunachemsha maji kama tunavyofanya sasa. Unafungua pakiti na kuweka sombe ndani na kuchemsha na kuondoa harufu mbaya."

2. "Wakati inachemka, osha mboga hizi zote." Osha na kata celery, leek, pilipili kijani, na bilinganya. "Ikiwa bilinganya ni mpya, kata pamoja na ngozi yake. Ikiwa sio mpya, ondoa ngozi yake."

3. Weka mboga zilizokatwa, mafuta, na chumvi kwenye sufuria pamoja na sombe. "Baadhi ya watu hutumia vitunguu sumu... Kwa sababu mboga hizi zinasaidia kufanya sombe kuwa laini, unaweza pia kuongeza spinachi ikiwa unataka... Spinachi husaidia kufanya iwe laini zaidi."

4. "Mchakato mzima unachukua masaa mawili ili sombe ipikike kabisa." Koroga mara kwa mara wakati inapika.

5. "Baada ya sombe au majani ya muhogo kuiva kabisa, unaweza kuongeza karanga iliyosagwa, au samaki, au mifupa. Ni chaguo lako... lakini usichanganye kila kitu Pamoja."

6. Tumikia na ugali na samaki au nyama. "Unaweza kula na ugali au fufu. Unaweza kula na ndizi au wali au kitu kingine chochote."

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the cassava leaves. “Because we buy this from the store, we don’t know how they process it. So we boil the water as we are doing right now. You open the package and you put the sombe inside and it boils and it takes the bad smell.”

2. “While it’s boiling, you also wash all of these veggies.” Wash and chop the celery leek, green pepper and eggplant. “If [the eggplant] is fresh, you cut it with the skin. If it is not fresh, you remove the skin.”

3. Add the chopped veggies, oil, and salt to the pot with the sombe. “Some people use garlic.... Because these veggies have to make the sombe soft, you can also add spinach if you want....The spinach helps to make it much more softer.”

4. “This whole process takes two hours for the sombe to be fully cooked.” Stir occasionally while it’s cooking. “As the water goes down, it is an indication that it’s being cooked.”

5. “After the sombe or cassava leaves is fully cooked, you can add powdered peanut, or fish, or bones. It’s your choice... but you don’t mix up everything together.”

6. Serve with ugali and fish or meat. “You can eat it with ugali or fufu. You can eat it with plantain or rice or anything else.”

Laurence