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How many readers over a century have wondered what this was, mentioned by the main character in the classic novel, Heart of Darkness? Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad, 1899 "... I saw in their possession was a few lumps of some stuff like half-cooked dough, of a dirty lavender colour, they kept wrapped in leaves, and now and then swallowed a piece of…”  Chikwangue (pronounced in English with more of a sh than ch) is often called 'cassava bread' but it's not actually a bread nor does it have any leavening. Let a modern Congolese cook demonstrate! Chikwangue starts with cassava flour - which goes through several rather lengthy processing of soaking and drying steps prior to making it ready to use as a flour. Rather than do all that oneself, it can be purchased in the market ready to cook, brought home and pounded, mixed with water in a sturdy mortar and pestle. The result after a good pounding has a nice smooth texture and looks like this:  Uncooked cassava dough after pounding. For chikwangue, half the pounded dough is cooked, then mixed with another half of uncooked dough, then rolled to shape it and then wrapped in multiple layers of leaves, then snugly tied.  There are about five different large-leafed plants from which the leaf wraps can be made - including banana and the fan palm. Be careful though, some leaves look very similar yet only certain ones are edible and give a good flavor. The cooked leaves in fact are not eaten - they are just for wrapping and enhancing the flavor during cooking. The leaf wrapping allows food to be cooked when no pots or other cooking vessels are available.  Since chikwangue is tightly wrapped and sealed in multiple layers of leaves, then tightly tied (usually with a sturdy cord peeled from the spine of the fronds of the oil palm) then cooked, the cooked leaf wrap keeps the inside cooked cassava 'bread' clean and sanitary for several days, a good tip for hungry travelers. After cooking, the leaves are not eaten, but discarded. During cooking, the cassava dough changes from an opaque white to a slightly translucent pale green or 'lavender' as described in the book, depending on the species of leaf used for the wrapping. A very simple starchy food, it can be eaten alone, but is best with dipping in a sauce or as an accompaniment to vegetables or meat as available.  Chikwangue - cooked cassava dough  Chikwangue - popular cassava recipe with leaf wrapping. Now anyone can easily recognize what was described in Joseph Conrad's novel and is today for sale at the street markets - chikwangue. Still popular everyday in modern Congo.  Chikwangue for sale, photo à TIPTOPduTOP blog ©2018 à TIPTOPduTOP blog ©2018
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