The calm before the storm.

The last few nights, I've had this recurring nightmare of one of my dishes the Saka Saka. I keep imagining that I will overcook it and the dish would just be a pile of green moosh. I can not get it out of my head.

Rewind to two days ago: I finally decided what I wanted to cook!

1. Mwamba (muamba): this dish is a chicken stew with tomatoes. Sometimes, they use lamb or fish, but I'm going to stick with a chicken. The only difference with their stews is that it has a bit of some heat strewn in it. It sounds simple enough.

2. FuFu (FouFou): A cassava flour ball. This dish is more like rice to the Chinese, Pita to the Greeks, and Nan to the Indians. Its the basic carbohydrate that allows them to dip with their stews and dishes. My boyfriend's (Greg) sister, who has been to the region, says they are like rocks that sit in your stomach...sounds tasty?

3. Saka Saka: It is another name for Cassava leaves, but when cooked as the main ingredient in a dish, it is also has this name. This is the my dreaded dish. I found the recipe from this Iowan Congolese gentleman named A. Soleil Banguid. This dish almost sounds like Palak Panir without the cheese or a creamed spinach without the cream, while substituting the spinach for cassava leaves. The recipe calls for me to simmer it for 4 hrs, but on other sites, it says only for 2 hours. I look at the cassava I have and they look like spinach. When you cook spinach for 2 to 4 hours, doesn't it become moosh? To top it off, Greg's friends are coming over for dinner at 8pm, so I'm hoping I can get it done in time and hope it tastes good. I can't just play it by ear and eat it whenever.

Two days ago, I also went to the African Foods Market (one of three in the bay area) in Campbell to get my main ingredients. As I walked into the store, I was in a different world. I definitely stood out like a sore thumb. I looked so lost that a man actually came up to me and offered to help me. Does that ever happen to out of place shoppers in Chinese supermarkets? Here is the kicker. The guy was from the Congo, of all places. It's a sign! So, of course I told him about my journey and asked if my dishes were common to the region. Luckily it was. Also, of course I asked for some pointers, but he really didn't give me any pointers about cooking besides how to eat fufu. He did say that "fufu will make you stronger" after you eat it. Hope he doesn't mean it will make me mentally stonger as I suffer the consequences of digesting these rock-like mortars. We'll wait and see!

In a couple hours, the show will begin....