Ngolo’s maboke: a mythical dish from Congo
Hello and welcome to Niochi. I have a mission today. To introduce you to a mythical dish from the Congo: Maboke.
Maboke is a dish of Congolese cuisine. It is a fish dish, spiced and wrapped in cassava or banana leaves. It is also eaten in other parts of African cuisine, such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is sometimes served with fried plantains and rice. The best known maboke formula is the one made with catfish.
Catfish is an emblematic fish
Heritage of the natural diversity of fauna in Congo (Brazzaville). Catfish is an emblematic fish in our daily life. It abounds in the fresh waters that cover the extent of the Congolese territory. To popularize in the state-owned markets of the capital in all its forms.
Its supply comes essentially from the northern departments of the country with a high concentration of fresh water, notably Impfondo, Makoua, Oyo, Edou and many others. Whether fresh or smoked, catfish is fully integrated into Congolese culinary behaviour. It is often found smoked in dishes such as “koko na emboto”. It is a very popular peanut paste sauce to the point of being a regularly consumed dish. However, it is also popular with fishermen in the big cities because it is cheap.
An ancestral recipe and cooking
However, its mystery remains in its authentic cooking that our ancestors have been able to pass on to this day. Based on an ancestral recipe, the Congolese woman is mostly a specialist of the mythical dish of “Maboke ya ngolo” (Ngolo means catfish in Lingala). A rather spicy dish in which one finds in general a silurid split into three cooked in the embers in a foliage. The quantity of leaves suggests that the most greedy will acquire an important part. A malice of certain saleswomen who take advantage of the number.
The sheatfish broth mixes several vegetables including onion or flavoured with garlic. This dish is very appreciated by the fervent consumers of beer or palm wine (tsamba in lari) who are delighted to taste it. There are also freshwater fish such as carp boiling from a smothered fire in the same foliage. Cooked under the same conditions, carp or catfish is also very succulent in white sauce. This diversity of maboke leaves consumers free to choose the flavours.
The maboke puts everyone in agreement
Loved by all. Regardless of location, social rank, or professional status. The Maboke remains an ancestral gastric cult to which we all adhere, sometimes unconsciously. Whether it is in the malewa and even in the n’gandas, in Loango, Diosso, and many others in Pointe-Noire. The cataracts, Kintele or at the beach in Brazzaville. Without forgetting the street vendors with a tray of mabokes carried on their heads. We all lend ourselves to the meal without prejudices, sometimes forgetting the healthy state of the establishment bewitched by the know-how.
A very appreciated recipe for lovers of rural tourism. Nevertheless, its poor quantity of pulpit lets us do gymnastics at the tasting to appreciate the bits of pulpit and spices between the stops. All this in a communion where the dish is best appreciated by hand and in its foliage.
A dish without borders
This dish is also popular in the big cities of Congo. It is often found in most luxury restaurants. This is due to the high market prices that put standard restaurants and a malewa out of competition, which usually has a cheap menu for the average citizen. Thus classifying the maboke among the dishes reserved for the privileged.
On weekends, the followers of this famous dish invade ecological districts such as Kintélé in Brazzaville or Nanga in Pointe-Noire for the gastric communion of the ancestors in restaurants and enjoy a moment of sharing in the open air with a cold beer. In the economic capital, it is very frequent to see the elders posing alone or in a couple in the terraces of neighborhoods like on the Songolo slabs at the exit of the bridge in the 5th arrondissement.
And you, do you like mabokes and what is your best maboke restaurant. Answer us in a comment.
Written by Benja
