A 'dish that cannot miss': Congolese newcomer serves up popular soup
Anuarite Manyota shares her recipe from home in this instalment of our series What I Bring to the Table
Anuarite Manyoha drops the frozen package of pounded cassava leaves into the pot of boiling water. Next, she adds a bright green blend of onions, leeks, garlic and green peppers — the base of a dish called pondu soup.
"In Congo, pondu is our traditional dish, and cassava is one of our staple foods," Manyoha explained.
"It can be eaten at home and even at parties. It's one dish that cannot miss. Everybody likes it!"
Manyoha, the eldest of 11 siblings, came to Canada with her family in 2014 as a refugee. She said her mom taught her to cook when she was young.
Baro Nafissatou Touré watches carefully. She came to Canada from Cameroon three years ago, and misses the flavours from Africa.
Manyoha and Touré, who both arrived in Canada during the coldest time of the year, said they had a hard time adjusting to both the temperature and the food here.
"I had cheese shock. Macaroni and cheese, rice and cheese, burgers and cheese. Everything has cheese here!" Touré joked.
For Manyoha, the sweetness of many Canadian meals, cooked with honey or sweet sauces, was hard to stomach.
The two met at church two years ago and have since found time to cook together, sharing tastes from home.
When the pondu is nearly cooked, Manyoha gets out a new pot to make the accompanying fufu — a type of dumpling.
She measures boiling water and semolina flour, stirring quickly. Once the consistency is right, she takes a small portion of the gluey mixture and tosses it into a ball in a small plastic bowl, repeating until each dumpling is formed.
The two sit down to eat in the traditional way, using just their hands instead of spoons and forks.
"There's a saying that if you don't eat with your hands, you haven't eaten," Touré says, explaining it doesn't taste the same if you don't eat with your "natural forks."
For Manyoha, the flavours remind her of big family gatherings, with all her siblings gathered around one table, eating off one large dish.
"Even when we prepare it, it brings back so many memories." she said.
Touré agrees. "It brings home here."
