Oluwombo, also known as  Luwombo is a traditional Ugandan dish served for royalty and wealthy alike and is very popular throughout the country  -  especially at holiday time. The dish dates back to 1887 when the head cook of Kaba Mwanga introduced it to the royal court.  It’s usually made with a beef, goat, pork and chicken(to indicate financial status) or simply with chicken, mushrooms, onions and pureed peanuts that are steamed in banana leaves and served with mashed plantains. It is an exquisite dish and certainly worthy of it’s royal status. Cooking in banana leaves has been common throughout

tropical Africa for centuries and the method is used wherever bananas are grown.  Quantities are rarely given in this recipe and even though we have provided some, the chef may usually interpret the dish as he wishes.

Method

Ingredients

• 1 kg of beef, goat, pork and chicken (or any combination), cut into serving-sized chunks
• 1 l homemade chicken stock (or beef stock)
• 500 g peanuts, roasted, shells and skins removed or, should you not have any, use about 125 g unsweetened, natural peanut butter per serving.
• 2 large onions (work on about ½  large onion per serving)
• 4 large, ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped (1 tomato per serving)
• 4 heaped tbsp tomato paste (1 tbsp per serving)
• Salt (to taste)
• Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• Banana leaves (one per serving)
• 600 g wild mushrooms or any mushrooms you have available, sliced if they are very big
• 4 large plantains (1 per serving)
• Optional – sometimes a piece of smoked meat is included for flavour
• 3 tsp grains of paradise (if you do use them, just take care when you add the pepper)
• 2 tsp bruised allspice berries
• 3 tsp roasted cumin seeds, crushed
• Any vegetable or olive oil for cooking purposes

Method

• Sear all the meat on an outdoor grill until browned – if you don’t have an outdoor grill, use a lightly greased skillet instead, remove from the heat and set aside to rest.
• Crush or grind the peanuts using  a mortar and pestle.
• Heat a little oil in a saucepan, add the onions and fry until translucent at which point you add the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the salt, the pepper, the grains of paradise, the bruised allspice, and the cumin and stir well.
• Now add the crushed peanuts and combine everything well to make a smooth paste, start to pour in a little of the stock to make a smooth sauce and heat through well.
• Briefly heat the banana leaves over the grill (or in a hot oven) to make them more flexible and remove some of the fibres from the central rib of each leaf in order to tie the leaf packets – if you break them or can’t be bothered, just use kitchen string.
• Place a portion of meat and some of the tomato-onion sauce, the mushrooms, the smoked meat or fish (if you are using it) in the middle of the leaf.
• Fold the leaf in from the sides, drawing all the sides together, being careful not to break the leaf and tie tightly to close at the top.
• Cut off any extra leaf above the tie.
• Repeat the process until all the leaves have been filled and use any extra leaves to double wrap the packets – if you have loads of leaves, double wrap all the packets.
• Place a wire rack (or something similar) in the bottom of a large dutch oven or similar cooking pot, add enough water to fill the pot up to the bottom of the rack.
• Place the banana-leaf packets on the rack and then cover the pot and bring it to a boil on the stove (or better yet) over the grill or an open fire.
• Steam the packets for an hour or even longer.
• Add water to the cooking pot as necessary to prevent it from becoming dry.
• To serve: Remove the plantains from their packets and lightly mash with a fork and then top with the meat and the sauce – do this before serving so that each diner has a plantain packet and a meat packet.