Rwanda
Isombe, brochettes and ibihaza pumpkin-bean comfort cooking.
Iconic recipes
Isombe
Pounded cassava leaves slow-cooked with peanuts, onion and palm oil.
Rwandan Brochettes
Goat skewers grilled over charcoal and served with grilled plantain.
Ibihaza
Pumpkin and beans simmered together — a comforting Rwandan staple.
Isombe
Pounded cassava leaves with peanut paste, eggplant and spinach — a Great Lakes staple.
Akabenz Pork Brochette
Smoky pork strips grilled over charcoal with chili-onion relish — Kigali street food.
Isombe
Rwandan pounded cassava leaves cooked with eggplant, peanut paste and palm oil.
Melange (Buffet Plate)
Kigali lunchtime buffet plate — a scoop each of rice, beans, matoke, isombe, cassava and grilled meat.
Kigali Goat Brochette
Charcoal-grilled goat skewers with grilled plantain and chili — Kigali bar-food standard.
Kigali Chapati
Layered oiled flatbread from every Kigali roadside stand, eaten with beans or tea.
Ibirayi n'Ibishyimbo
Ruhengeri-style boiled potatoes stewed with red beans, onion and celery.
Igitoki (Steamed Plantain)
Green cooking bananas steamed in their leaves — the Northern highland staple.
Cabbage & Carrot Sauté
Musanze-market cabbage shredded with carrot and leeks — the plate's greens.
Ruhengeri Potato Stew
Highland potatoes simmered in tomato-onion sauce with a pinch of curry.
Agatogo
Huye banana-and-bean one-pot cooked with palm oil and greens.
Huye Beans in Palm Oil
Slow-cooked red beans finished with palm oil, onion and celery — Southern lunchbox mainstay.
Ibijumba (Sweet Potato)
Boiled sweet potatoes eaten with tea — the Southern-Province breakfast plate.
Nyagatare Beef Stew
Slow-braised beef from the cattle-country East, simmered with tomato and onion.
Inshyushyu (Fresh Warm Milk)
Warm fresh cow's milk — the pastoralist welcome drink of Nyagatare herders.
Ikivuguto (Cultured Milk)
Traditionally soured Rwandan cultured milk, tart and creamy, sipped or eaten with ugali.
Umutsima w'Ubuki
Eastern-Province maize-cassava mash sweetened with honey — herders' snack.
Sambaza Fritters
Tiny Lake Kivu sardines dredged in flour and fried crisp — Rubavu bar snack.
Kivu Grilled Tilapia
Whole Lake Kivu tilapia, scored, salted and grilled over charcoal by the shore.
Kivu Fish Stew
Lake Kivu fish simmered in tomato, onion and palm oil, served with cassava.
Kivu Fish Brochette
Firm lake-fish cubes skewered with onion and grilled over lakeside charcoal.
Mizuzu (Fried Plantain)
Golden fried ripe plantain wedges — highland comfort snack.
Highland Green Peas
Volcanoes-region fresh green peas simmered with onion and butter.
Volcanoes Cabbage & Potato
Highland cabbage layered with potato and carrot — cool-climate one-pot.
Bugesera Cassava Ugali
Stiff cassava-flour bread from the dry Southeast, kneaded fast over the fire.
Bugesera Sorghum Porridge
Warm fermented-sorghum porridge from the SE lowlands, sweetened with sugar.
Bugesera Groundnut Sauce
Peanut paste stew simmered with tomato and onion — served over cassava or ugali.
Wild Forest Honey
Nyungwe-forest wild honey harvested by Twa communities, eaten by the spoon or in porridge.
Twa Forest Mushroom
Wild forest mushrooms sautéed with wild greens and a little smoked salt.
Wild Yam Roast
Foraged wild yams roasted in embers — a Twa forest tradition.
Rwandan Samosa
Crisp fried pastries stuffed with spiced beef or lentils — corner-shop snack across Kigali.
Rwandan Chapati
Layered oiled flatbread introduced by South-Asian traders — now a nationwide favourite.
Kigali Daal
Yellow-lentil daal spiced with cumin and turmeric — a Kigali Indian-restaurant staple.
Frites & Mayo
Belgian-heritage double-fried potato chips served with mayonnaise — Kigali café classic.
Kigali Croissant
Flaky butter croissants baked in Kigali's Belgian-heritage patisseries.
Mille-Feuille
Layered puff pastry and vanilla cream — Belgian-era pastry surviving in Kigali cafés.
Ubugali (Ugali)
Stiff white-maize porridge — Rwanda's everyday side, torn and dipped by hand.
Umutsima
Traditional Rwandan mash of maize and cassava flour — the pre-ugali staple.
Inyama y'Ihene (Goat Stew)
Slow goat stew with onion, tomato and celery — the celebration meat of Rwanda.
Urwagwa (Banana Beer)
Traditional Rwandan banana beer fermented with sorghum — poured at every celebration.
Rwandan Mandazi
Cardamom-scented fried dough triangles enjoyed with morning tea.
Rwandan Chai
Milky spiced tea sipped morning and evening from Kigali to the hills.
Agashya (Tree-Tomato Juice)
Sweet-tart tamarillo (tree-tomato) juice — Rwanda's favourite home cordial.
Rwandan Kachumbari
Fresh tomato, onion and chili salsa served alongside brochettes and grilled fish.