Kaliko

Kisra

Thin fermented sorghum flatbread spread on a hot plate and peeled off in sheets, the base of every meal in the north of the country.

Serves Makes 12 · 30 minutes, plus 2 days fermenting

Mulukhiyah

also Jute leaf stew, Khudra

Jute mallow leaves cooked to a thick green sauce with garlic and dried fish, poured over asida. Simple, cheap and eaten across the whole of South Sudan.

Serves 6 · 45 minutes

Asida with Kudra

Sorghum porridge with a green sauce of okra or greens, the everyday meal across South Sudan. Turned out as a dome and eaten from the shared dish.

Serves 6 · 1 hour

Combo

also Okra and greens stew

Fresh okra and wild greens cooked down with sesame paste into a thick, deliberately slippery stew, eaten with asida. The South Sudanese household dish.

Serves 6 · 50 minutes

Kajaik

Dried Nile fish stewed with onion and groundnut into a thick sauce, eaten with asida. The Nile's fish is dried in quantity and traded far inland.

Serves 6 · 1 hour

Roast Goat for a Feast

A goat or bull killed and roasted whole for a wedding, a homecoming or the settlement of a dispute. In cattle-keeping societies the animal is the message.

Serves 12 or more · 4 hours

Fatta

also Bread and meat platter

Torn flatbread layered with meat broth, yoghurt and fried onion, assembled in a great tray at Eid and at weddings and eaten communally.

Serves 8 · 2 hours

Wala Wala

Sorghum or maize porridge with a simple bean or greens relish, eaten in the Equatorias. Plain food, and what most of the country eats most days.

Serves 6 · 50 minutes

Merissa

Sorghum beer brewed and sold by women, drunk from calabashes at markets and gatherings. It is thick, sour and cloudy, and doubles as food.

Serves Makes about 5 litres · 4 days

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