Rwanda – Boiled Kumara With Nuts

by Alkased Mamim

In Rwanda Kumara is simply a sweet potato, boiled sweet potatoes with nuts is another taste to try. It is among the earliest cuisine to be prepared and last for a longer period of time. Sometimes modern ways of eating influenced by globalization brings a hearty challenge for this dish, although it still holds the front position to the most loved traditional dishes in the country.

Rwanda is located in the East part of African continent, it may be the country with smaller land in kilometers square but it still a well developing country. It is bordered by Burundi to the south, Tanzania to the East, Congo to the west and Uganda to the north.

Nuts do take some time to get ready cooked, that’s why most of the time people do cook it apart with the sweet potatoes. For the dish to be aromatic, you must boil nuts with their covers still. This helps to keep their salt taste from diffusion to the boiling water used. Banana leaves are also used to cover the top of both the sweet potatoes and the nuts, this is to ensure the wellness on cooking during the boiling process.

Let’s get into the cooking procedures. Enjoy the recipe.

Prepare

• 1 kg of nuts
• 7-10 big sweet potatoes
• Salt
• Water
• Banana leaves

Cooking

• Wash sweet potatoes well with running water, dry them and set aside.
• Clean nuts to remove dust and sand.
• Prepare boiling pots and put on them sweet potatoes and nuts respectively.
• Add water in each pot and wrap banana leaves on top of the sweet potatoes pot to cover the steam from escaping. Steam helps in lowering cooking time.
• Boil sweet potatoes for about 40-50 minutes and nuts for about an hour depending on their hardness.
• Once done, serve warm both in one plate, with tea or porridge. Nuts need to be removed from their shells for easy chew.

Enjoy the cuisine from Nyarwanda people.