Pondu

Pondu is a Congolese dish that is big part of the diet. It is a dish made from the leaves of the cassava plant.

1000 Fc worth of greens (about $1.10 USD)

 First you take the stack of greens and you pick all the leaves off of the stem.

Cassava leaves

After separating the leaves, you need to rinse any dirt off of them.

Slowly adding the boiled water

After cleaning them off, you add an entire tea kettle full of boiled water to scald them.Once they have cooled off enough to touch, you squeeze as much water off of them as possible.
They are then added to a giant mortar and pestle to be ground down into tiny pieces.

Papa Didier begins to "piler" (pound) the leaves by lifting
the heavy pestle and bringing it down repeatedly. 

Sweetpea gets in on the action

Just when you think you are done pounding, you add your raw seasonings (onion, garlic, etc.) and pound some more. Depending on how many hands you have, the whole process takes about 2-3 hours.

Finished product

Now you get to sautée the pounded leaves in palm oil and serve over rice. Don't forget to top with fresh toasted peanuts for protein!

Congolese meal

 Yum!!