Spicy Congolese Leek & Cabbage is a nutritious dish from Africa, that a Congolese friend showed me how to make. It’s very easy, to make but has a luscious juiciness to it. It is especially good as an accompaniment to less moist or drier pastry/baked dishes.
The choice of cabbage is important as you don’t want one that is too tough or firm when cooked or it doesn’t sit well with the leeks. I find that January King, Sweetheart, or Savoy cabbage or a mixture of them works the best. Leeks with plenty of green leaves are good too, so it’s better to buy untrimmed leeks.
With the beans, you can use what you like, but I would suggest that fleshy softish beans are ideal. So, borlotti, lima (navy), flageolet, or brown beans. I would avoid kidney or chick peas as they are a little too firm to fit in well with texture of the veggies.
This dish goes really well with say a pie or flan – especially one that’s not very juicy. That way the contrast between the firm wholemeal pastry & soft juicy Congolese dish works well. The coconut milk helps the unctuous texture, and the chillies add a little backbone. You could even add some thinly sliced pre-sauteed mushrooms – oyster, chestnut or white, but not field. This is because they would make the dish very grey.
It’s also a good dish to make in bulk. That way you can eat it as a main dish on one evening. Then have it later in the week as an extra “posh veggie” on the plate. It would go well with tofu flan fallafels, or pies, spanakopita or smashed potatoes or even garlic bread. So next time you’re wandering past the veg aisle, look out for the ingredients for this Spicy Congolese Leek & Cabbage dish. You won’t regret it!
Spicy Congolese Leek & Cabbage
Equipment
- 1 large wok
- 1 large saucepan
Ingredients
- 500 g red onion
- 650 g leeks with plenty of greens
- 1300 g cabbage - savoy, january King, sweetheart etc
- 1000 g vine tomatoes need to be nice and ripe
- 300 g carrots optional
- 50 g garlic
- 75 g ginger
- 750 g cooked beans - various lima, brown, flageolet
- 200 g coconut milk optional but recommended
- 30 g soy sauce 2 table spoons
- 6 whole red or green chillies or a small scotch bonnet
- 4 whole stock cubes I prefer Kallo
- 10 g nutritional yeast flakes
- 75 g coconut oil use as much as needed though
Instructions
- add 30 of coconut oil into the pan on a very low heat.
- then chop the red onions in thin slivers or slices and add to the pan
- chop the ginger or blitz in a mini grinder add to the pan
- peel and chop or blitz the garlic and add to the pan.
- stir and continue to cook on a low heat.
- slice the leeks in half and then into 2cm (1 inch) pieces and wash thoroughly - to remove the dirt - then add to the pan.
- chop the cabbage into 1cm (1/2 inch) short strips and wash and then steam for 5 minutes or so until it is starting to soften.
- once the cabbage is beginning to soften add to the main pan along with the beans, nutritional yeast, stock cubes coconut milk, soy sauce and anything else in the list that I've forgotten to mention!
- Serve with another item or two, like smashed potatoes and garlic bread.
