Cameroon – Moubora (Pumpkin Leaves Mixed With Fried Groundnut)

by Nghonazie Annabel

Moubora is a dish made from pumpkin leaves and fried groundnut. Pumpkin leaves commonly known as “nchi” in my locality is a plant vegetable which is very common in backyard gardens in most village settings and contains a lot of nutrients and health benefits that most people do not know or they know about this but rather claim that it is a poor man’s food.

Pumpkin leaves have a healthy amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron and also have numerous health benefits which includes

• It fights against cancer
• It helps in stopping convulsion
• It increases fertility in women
• It helps to keep diabetes under control
• It boosts the immune system

From the above, it can be seen that pumpkin leaves are very nutritional and essential for our health benefits. Most people claims that pumpkin leaves prepared as a meal is for the low class people and they cannot prepare it in their houses forgetting to know that good food and healthy eating is not the amount it cost to get that meal ready or weather its of high class but rather how beneficial is that meal to the body and how it can help the immune system to fight certain diseases and to solve certain issues the body may be facing.

Moubora is thus a delicious meal added to the fact that the pumpkin leaves is mixed with groundnut just makes it a complete healthy meal. It is a delicacy of the Bangwa people of the south west region of Cameroon. They mostly eat it with pounded cocoyam. Sometimes it’s just the stems that will be prepared and other times the flat leaves are used and with the flat leaves, it is necessary for groundnut to be added. This meal is prepared by frying and it can also be eaten with boiled yams, boiled plantains, cassava etc.

Cooking ingredients

• 2 cups of raw groundnut
• A bunch of fresh pumpkin leaves
• Groundnut oil
• 3 large  tomatoes
• 1 medium sized onion
• A finger of  ginger
• 5 Garlics
• 2 hot pepper
• A cup of crayfish
• 3 medium sized smoked fish
•  meat (optional)
• Maggi and salt to taste

Cooking Procedure

1. Harvest the pumpkin leaves from the backyard garden or buy from the market
2. Wash the leaves well under running water and put in a bowl and size to desirable size. After slicing the leaves, put in a pot of hot water  add limestone to keep the leaves green
3. When the leaves is ok, removes and put in a drainer
4. Fry the groundnut and ground
5. Boil the meat and add the smoked fish when the meat is half done
6. Size tomatoes and garlics and blend the ginger, garlics and pepper and keep
7. Put oil in the pot and add the sliced tomatoes and onions and fry. When it’s ready, add the ground groundnut and stir well until it’s well-cooked. Add the blended spices and stir.
8. Add the boiled pumpkin leaves, the meat and fish , crayfish , Maggi and salt and stir the mixture for homogeneity
9. Allow to cook for 10 minutes and the meal is ready

Serve with; yam, potatoes, plantains, cassava etc.

Enjoy your meal