Banyarwanda

Ubugali

Cassava or maize flour cooked stiff, eaten with beans, greens or fish. The Rwandan table's fixed point, taken by hand and dipped.

Serves 6 · 30 minutes

Isombe

Pounded cassava leaves with aubergine, spinach and groundnut paste, cooked long and dark. Rwanda's most characteristic dish, served with ubugali or rice.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Ibirayi n'Inyama

also Potato and beef stew

Potatoes and beef simmered with celery, leek and tomato into a straightforward, well-made stew. The dinner of the Rwandan highlands, where the potato is king.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Brochettes na Ibirayi

Goat skewers with fried potatoes, the standard order at every Kigali bar. Ordered by the number of sticks and eaten with a bottle of Primus.

Serves 4 · 45 minutes, plus 2 hours marinating

Akabenz

also Fried pork, Kabenz

Pork boiled then fried hard in its own fat until the edges crisp, served with a bowl of chilli and a beer. The dish that fills Kigali's bar terraces on a Friday.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Agatogo

Plantain stewed with meat, beans and vegetables in one pot, made for family gatherings and for guests. A dish of the banana-growing hills.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Ibihaza

Pumpkin cooked with beans until both collapse into a thick sweet-savoury mash, an old dish of the countryside and a favourite of the hungry season.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 15 minutes

Urwagwa

Banana beer fermented with roasted sorghum, drunk at every ceremony and negotiation. In the old kingdom it was offered at every stage of a marriage agreement.

Serves Makes about 5 litres · 4 days

Icyayi cy'Amata

also Milk tea, African tea

Tea brewed directly in milk with ginger, from a country that grows some of the world's best tea and exports nearly all of it.

Serves 4 · 20 minutes

Fufu

Cassava and maize flour beaten into a firm dough, the daily food of most of the Congo. Rolled in the fingers, dented with the thumb, and used to scoop.

Serves 6 · 30 minutes

Madesu

also Congolese beans, Haricots

Red beans stewed with onion, tomato and palm oil until thick, the cheapest and most eaten dish in Kinshasa. Served with fufu or rice and a spoon of chilli.

Serves 6 · 2 hours, plus overnight soaking

Poulet à la Moambé

also Moambe chicken, Nsusu na mwambe

Chicken cooked in palm nut pulp with chilli and garlic, the national dish of both Congos. The palm oil rising orange to the surface is the sign it is ready.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Ntaba

also Grilled goat, Chèvre braisée

Goat marinated in mustard, garlic and lemon then grilled slowly over charcoal, the Kinshasa nganda dish, eaten late with plantain and beer.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 4 hours marinating

Mikate

also Beignets

Fried dough balls sold from basins by women at every Kinshasa junction, eaten hot at breakfast or as a snack with sweet coffee.

Serves Makes 24 · 2 hours 15 minutes

Makemba

also Grilled plantain, Banane braisée

Plantain grilled over charcoal until blistered and served with a fierce pili-pili, sold outside every Kinshasa bar and bus stop.

Serves 4 · 25 minutes

Liboke ya Mbisi

Fish steamed in a banana leaf parcel with onion, chilli and lime, the Congo river's signature method. Opened at the table so the steam and smell arrive together.

Serves 4 · 1 hour

Mbika

also Egusi in leaves, Pumpkin seed parcels

Ground melon seed mixed with fish or meat, wrapped in leaves and steamed until it sets into a savoury cake. A Congolese celebration dish and a market food.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Pondu

also Saka saka

Pounded cassava leaves cooked long with palm oil, smoked fish and aubergine. Eaten across the Congo basin and cooked for hours, since cassava leaves demand it.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 45 minutes

Sombe ya Kivu

also Kivu cassava leaves, Sombe

Cassava leaves pounded and cooked long with palm oil and smoked fish, the daily dish of the Kivu hills. Bitter, dark and cooked until it no longer is.

Serves 6 · 2 hours

Malafu ya Ngasi

also Palm wine

Palm wine tapped from the oil palm and drunk the same day, sweet in the morning and sharp by evening. Poured for the ancestors before anyone else drinks.

Serves Varies · Tapped daily

Lotoko

also Congolese maize spirit

Distilled maize or cassava spirit, made in the villages and drunk everywhere. Clear, strong and entirely unregulated — this is a description of a tradition rather than a recommendation.

Serves Varies · 5 to 7 days fermenting, plus distilling

Matoke

Green cooking bananas steamed in their own leaves until soft and yellow, then mashed. The staple of the Baganda and the food that defines central Uganda.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Katogo

also Matoke katogo, Breakfast stew

Green bananas cooked in one pot with offal, beans or groundnut sauce until they absorb everything. Uganda's breakfast, argued about endlessly for what should go in it.

Serves 4 · 50 minutes

Kalo

also Millet bread, Atap

Finger millet flour worked into a dense dark brown loaf, often with cassava flour for body. The staple of eastern and northern Uganda, torn and dipped into sauce.

Serves 6 · 35 minutes

Luwombo

Chicken, beef or groundnut sauce steamed inside a banana leaf parcel, invented in the 1880s by a cook to Kabaka Mwanga II. Opened at the table so the steam is released in front of the guest.

Serves 6 · 2 hours

Rolex

An omelette rolled inside a chapati, whose name is a compression of rolled eggs. Sold from griddle stalls outside every campus and taxi park in Uganda.

Serves 2 · 30 minutes

Grilled Tilapia

also Ngege, Fish choma

Whole tilapia from Lake Victoria, scored, rubbed with garlic and lemon and grilled over charcoal at the landing sites. Eaten with the fingers and a heap of kachumbari.

Serves 4 · 45 minutes, plus 1 hour marinating

Gonja

also Roast plantain

Sweet plantain roasted whole over charcoal until the skin blackens and the flesh caramelises, sold at every Ugandan roadside and taxi stage.

Serves 4 · 25 minutes

Binyebwa

Groundnut sauce, sometimes with mushrooms or smoked fish, steamed or simmered and served over matoke. The sauce that goes with everything at a Ugandan celebration.

Serves 6 · 1 hour

Muchomo

also Goat muchomo, Nyama choma ya mbuzi

Goat meat on sticks, salted and grilled slowly over charcoal, the fixture of every Ugandan celebration and the reason the town of Nakasongola is on the map.

Serves 8 · 1 hour 15 minutes, plus 2 hours marinating

Malewa

Smoked bamboo shoots stewed with groundnut, a Bagisu dish from the slopes of Mount Elgon. Prepared at imbalu circumcision ceremonies and sold dried in Mbale market.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes, plus soaking

Eshabwe

also Ghee sauce, Ankole ghee sauce

Clarified butter whipped with rock salt and water until it turns white and thick, the ceremonial sauce of the Ankole and Toro pastoral kingdoms. Poured over millet bread or matoke.

Serves 6 as a sauce · 30 minutes

Bushera

Sorghum or millet flour fermented into a thin sour drink, served fresh to children and left longer to turn alcoholic for adults. A Bakiga and Banyankole staple.

Serves 6 · 20 minutes, plus 1 to 3 days fermenting