Best Breakfast

Best Breakfast

I had Grant eat what I call the best breakfast anyone could ask for. Anyone from Burundi, Congo, or Rwanda knows what I am talking about. People who are not from those countries are probably reading those words and wondering “what is she talking about?”

Alright, let me get into explaining the best breakfast… It’s leftovers. I know, I know, y’all are probably thinking what’s so special about leftovers?! Well, this is one of a kind, not like any other leftovers. It’s cassava leaves! (Called “Sombe” in Burundi and Rwanda, and “Pondu” in Congo) The cassava leaves get smashed into small pieces and boiled, then eggplant, chives/green onions are added, as well as meat or fish unless you can’t afford to or prefer not to. Next, palm oil (or vegetable oil if you don’t have palm oil) is added, and finally peanut powder. Once everything is added it can slow cook until the peanut powder is all cooked and mixed in well.

The second thing you will need for this amazing breakfast is rice. In my case I love boiling rice and adding some ghee oil. If you don’t have ghee oil then you can use vegetable oil, it works just fine.

It tastes amazing and tastes even better the next day.

When it comes to the following day when you are going to eat the leftovers, we would mix rice and cassava leaves together then heat it up on the stove (we didn’t have any microwaves), then keep on mixing it together, letting it burn just a little bit because the slightly burnt texture is to die for.

We would also make hot tea with some cloves, not everyone put cloves in their tea, but we always did at my place.

The hot mixture of cassava leaves and rice and a cup of tea makes for a breakfast where you will enjoy every single second.

Now you must be wondering if that’s actually our breakfast, and the answer is not really. We eat leftovers when you can’t afford to buy bread/donuts/ chapati that you eat with your tea in the morning. Depending on where your family is financially, breakfast can vary from bread (baguette most of the time or sometimes sliced bread), butter (Burundians and Rwandans call butter Blue Band or margarine), omelet, avocado and hot tea with milk (powder or liquid), to porridge or leftovers. Any of those would taste amazing!