As you can probably guess, the Central African Republic is located in Central Africa. The land has been inhabited for thousands of years, but during the late 19th century, France ruled the country as a colony. In 1960, Central African Republic became independent and was ruled by a series of autocratic leaders.
There has been a lot of unrest in the years since, and there has been a civil war ongoing since 2012. Central African Republic is rich in mineral deposits and other resources, yet is one of the poorest countries in the world, which is probably not helped by the civil unrest.
Knowing all this, I wasn’t too surprised when the only person to respond to my Reddit post didn’t actually live in the Central African Republic. They did give me some good ideas, but some dishes were better for neighboring countries so I still feel I ended up a little short this week.
What Do People Eat in Central African Republic?
Like many poor countries in the area, Central African cuisine relies heavily on indigenous foods such as millet, sorghum, bananas, yams, okra, onion, garlic, spinach, rice, and palm oil. Corn, cassava, peanuts, chilies, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes are common imported ingredients.
Meat isn’t very common, but when it’s used it is usually chicken, goat, or wild game. Fish can be found in many dishes and insects such as cicadas, grasshoppers, crickets, and termites are often used as sources of protein.
What I Made
- Maboké de Capitaine (Steamed Fish)
- Fried Plantains
- Shrimp and Sweet Potato
- Kanda (Beef and Pumpkin Seed Meatballs)
Maboké de Capitaine (Steamed Fish)
This fish dish is usually made with Nile perch and steamed in banana leaves, but I used cod and parchment paper. Onion, garlic, tomato, chili, and parsley are steamed with the fish. This is often served with rice and fried plantains, which is how I ate it. This was alright; I like cooking fish in parchment because it’s an easy way to keep it moist, but I think I used a little too much chili!
I used the recipe from International Cuisine.
Fried Plantains
Fried plantains are a common side dish all over Africa, and since I was low on dishes I decided to finally make them to accompany my maboké de capitaine. I didn’t use a recipe; I just sliced some nearly ripe plantain and shallow fried until golden on both sides. I also added a little salt. I think they turned out alright but I found out afterwards that it may be better to use ripe plantain, so I will try that next time. I’m sure I’ll end up making this again at some point, considering all the countries I still have left that enjoy plantains.
Shrimp and Sweet Potato
This is a dish I saw frequently mentioned as being common in the Central African Republic but I couldn’t find a recipe or any further detail then ‘shrimp, served with boiled yams or sweet potato’. I was low on dishes this week and so I decided to just attempt to create this dish using ingredients that are common throughout the area.
I mashed some boiled sweet potato with a little cream and butter (probably not so authentic) and a touch of cayenne pepper. The shrimp are sautéed with garlic, onion, and chili flakes, and tossed with parsley. I don’t know how close this comes to what you may find served in the Central African Republic, but I can say it was delicious!
Kanda (Beef and Pumpkin Seed Meatballs)
Kanda seems to be one of the more popular Central African dishes. It consists of meatballs made with beef, onion, garlic, and ground pumpkin seeds, cooked in a sauce consisting mainly of onion, tomato, and chili, with parsley added at the end. This is commonly served with rice, which is how I ate it.
I thought this was a pretty good dish; nothing super amazing, but I liked it. The recipe I used is from Tara’s Multicultural Table but I used a little less pumpkin seeds because I had not realized how much the recipe needed and didn’t buy enough.
Final Thoughts
This week was alright but I wish I could have had more dishes. My favorite was the shrimp with sweet potato but since I kind of made it up, I’ll choose kanda as my favorite authentic Central African dish.
Next week, I’ll be cooking food from Chad.