Kwacoco is a Cameroonian dish made from grated macabo tubers. First, the macabo tubers are peeled, grated, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed. This dish was a part of my childhood in Lom and brings back pure emotion for me.
I can't even remember the last time I ate this dish. I've never even made it myself. But I can remember every detail of the preparation. At home, we didn't have it very often. I grew up in a neighborhood with neighbors from different regions of Cameroon. We were a really great community back then and shared a lot with each other, especially culinary specialties from each other's home regions. That's how it came about that our neighbor from Bafang (in western Cameroon) always brought us an extra portion of Kwacoco whenever she cooked it. She made stuffed Kwacoco every week, so we had the opportunity to enjoy it almost every week.
Kwacoco is often served with either sauce blanche or grilled peanut sauce, and a touch of okra. Both sauces are peanut-based. Sauce blanche is made by grinding raw, shelled peanuts to create a white sauce, hence the name. Grilled peanut sauce uses roasted peanuts. Both versions also include okra as a thickener. These sauces are often prepared with meat or fish, but they can also be made vegetarian.
Traditionally, Kwaoco are prepared in fresh banana leaves. The leaves are first briefly heated over an open flame to activate their elasticity, preventing them from breaking during wrapping. Since I don't have an open flame, I poured very hot water over the leaves and achieved similar results. However, if you don't have banana leaves on hand, you can use parchment paper, as I 've demonstrated before Koki and Mets de pistache
The whole thing as a video
Kwacoco & Sauce blanche
Ingredients
For the Kwacoco
- 3 medium-sized Macabo
- 4-6 fresh banana leaves (or baking paper)
- some water
For the sauce blanche
- 150 g raw and shelled peanuts
- 500g smoked chicken leg (or other precooked meat)
- 4 Okra
- 1 Onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 small piece of ginger
- approx. 20g Manjanga (Optional)
- 50 ml cooking oil
- 1 tsp Magic Sauce
- 1-3 chili peppers/ Scotch bonnet (Optional)
- Salt
- Water
Instructions
For the Kwacoco
- First, wash the banana leaves and place them in hot (not boiling) water for about 5 minutes, then dry them thoroughly and set them aside
- Peel the macadamia tubers with a vegetable peeler, wash them well and grate them into a dough using a fine-grained kitchen grater
- Mix the dough well and add a little water as needed (depending on the consistency of the tubers) and mix well
- Take the prepared bananas, rub them with a little oil so that the dough doesn't stick later, then place some dough onto the banana leaves, carefully roll in the direction of the leaf lines and fold or tie both ends.
- Place the wrapped dough in a pot of water with a steamer insert and steam for approximately 45 minutes. Add more water as needed
For the sauce blanche
- Heat cooking oil in a pot, add finely chopped onion and garlic, season with salt and sauté for about 2 minutes
- Add the ground peanuts and a little water. Mix everything well and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes
- Meanwhile, put the okra, ginger, onion, garlic, manjanga and some water into a blender and blend together
- Now add the chicken leg and chili peppers and simmer for another 10 minutes. Then, finally, add the pureed okra mixture, stir well, and simmer for another 10 minutes. After that, add the Magic Sauce and season to taste
- Remove the cooked kwacoco from the leaves, arrange it on a plate with the finished sauce and enjoy
