Fumbwa Elambani Na Mafuta Ya Nguba: Peanut Butter Spinach from Angola

Peanut butter spinach: an unlikely combination that is my new favorite spinach dish, not an honor that is lightly pried away from the Catalan spinach salad.

The recipe is apparently popular throughout central Africa, traditionally made with fumbwa (or m’fumbwa), a wild African vine that grows in the Congo region. The delicious, subtle peanut flavor somehow compliments the texture of the spinach and the tang of the tomatoes in a way I never, ever would have suspected.

Fumbwa Elambani Na Mafuta Ya Nguba: Angolan Peanut Butter Spinach Recipe
Modified from the Congo Cookbook Makes enough for 1

1/2 lb. Spinach (or another green, like fumbwa, cassava leaves, collards, or kale)
2 cups water
1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp red palm oil

Wash and stem the spinach. Boil the water, add the spinach, onion, and peanut butter. Cook over medium heat until the spinach is wilted and the water and peanut butter have turned into a thick-ish sauce. Scoop into a bowl, top with palm oil, and serve.

The Congo Cookbook suggested serving this with boiled yams, but it is flavorful and filling enough to stand on its own.