Where it comes from
Kanda meatballs are a celebration dish of the Central African Republic, the meat bound with peanut paste — a signature of the West-Central African groundnut tradition that runs through the region's cooking.
On the plate
Pick up a kanda meatball — dark amber-brown with the tomato-and-palm-oil sauce coating it. Bite: meat tender but bouncy from the peanut binding, the peanut flavor woven through, the sauce rich with palm-oil-and-tomato depth, piri-piri tingling. With chikwangue absorbing the sauce, this is the CAR wedding feast.
How it works
Peanut paste binds the meat better than breadcrumbs alone and adds flavor depth. Browning before braising builds Maillard.
Variations
With chicken. With added vegetables. With more peanut. With more chili. Modern restaurant version with herbs. With cassava-leaf sauce.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
9 steps · Show ↓50 min active · 40 min waiting
How it's made
9 steps · Show ↓- 18 min
Combine 600 g ground beef + 100 g peanut paste + 100 g breadcrumbs + 1 chopped onion + 4 minced garlic + 2 tbsp parsley + 1 tsp salt + 1/2 tsp pepper + 1 tsp paprika + 1 egg.
- 217 min
Mix thoroughly; rest 15 min.
- 312 min
Shape into 24 walnut-sized balls.
- 48 min
Heat 3 tbsp palm oil in heavy pan. Brown meatballs in batches 5 min, turning. Remove.
- 512 min
Sauté 1 sliced onion 5 min in same pan. Add 4 chopped tomatoes, 1 piri-piri, 2 tbsp tomato paste; cook 5 min.
- 64 min
Add 400 ml water; bring to simmer. Return meatballs.
- 731 min
Cover; simmer 30 min until cooked through and sauce is thick.
- 81 min
Stir in 1 tbsp chopped cilantro.
- 91 min
Serve hot with chikwangue or rice.
