The next up after Chad is the Central African Republic. I am now more than half through Africa and have arrived in South Africa. So far it has been very interesting to see how spices and recipes are made. I feel I have learned a few things from that trip.

Here are a few facts about Central African Republic:

• Capital: Bangui
• Population: about 4.7 million
• Area: 622 984 km²
• Currency: Central African CFA Franc

For the Central African Republic I chose to make Kanda meatballs with an okra sauce. The kanda meatballs are made with a few spices and ground squash seeds . I couldn’t find squash seeds but used pumpkin seeds which worked perfectly. The meatballs were really good and the sauce was interesting with the okra. Maybe next time I would add a small red pepper in order to give it a little kick. Here is the recipe!

Kanda meatballs in okra sauce

Ingredients:

• 800g of chuck roast
• 300g of okra
• 2 onions
• 1 bouillon cube
• 2 bay leaves
• 1kg ground beef
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
• 400g pumpkin seeds
• 4 diced tomatoes

Directions:

Before cooking we are going to prepare all the ingredients. So here we go: dice the onions, dice the tomatoes, finely chop the cilantro leaves, finely chop or use a garlic press for the garlic, cut the chuck roast in 1 inch cubes and chop the okra in 1 inch length sections.

In a food processor, chop the pumpkin seeds until coarsely ground. Again, in a food processor, chop the okra until it forms a paste.

We are now ready to cook!

In a large saute pan, add chuck roast, onions, bouillon (crush with your hand), the bay leaves and 1 teaspoon of water. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and cook on high heat until the juice is evaporated.

In the meantime, mix ground beef, garlic, cilantro and ground pumpkin seeds. Once all the ingredients are well mixed, form meatballs about 2 inches wide.

Add the okra, the tomatoes and  750ml of water to the sauce. Add the meatballs to the sauce when it start boiling. Cover and cook for 10 minutes undisturbed.

After 10 minutes, carefully stir the sauce and the meatballs (make sure you go gently to not break the meatballs). Cover again and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

You can serve with rice or cassava flour balls (unfortunately I couldn’t find cassava flour).

Kobé a nzéré na yanga ti mo!