“The smell of onions, of spices mixed together . . . it's just nice,” she said.
“To me, food is art.”
After growing up in Kigoma in Tanzania, Ms Muhimpundu moved to Shepparton with her mother Ledegonda and siblings — of which there are 10 — in 2006.
At home in Kigoma, Ms Muhimpundu learned to cook by watching her mother as a child.
She was always transfixed by the way Ledegonda would expertly pound cassava leaves in big wooden pots; the slow process to serving up at mealtime.
“Food has been my passion ever since I was little,” she said.
It's a love she's carried to regional Victoria, where Ms Muhimpundu hopes to one day open a restaurant dedicated entirely to traditional African cooking, called Culture Cuisine.
“Because there's none here, I want to be the first,” she said with a laugh.
“I know a lot of people who aren't Africans who would love to try African cooking.”
Ms Muhimpundu has always been inspired by central and east African fare — from Congolese and Tanzanian to Burundian.
At Culture Cuisine, she hopes to pack the menu with traditional African dishes like sombé (cassava leaves), beef and chicken stew, jollof rice, pilaf and mandazi — a fried donut that originated on the Swahili coast.
“It's been hard to get the right ingredients here, but now people are opening African groceries, we can find the special spices,” she said.
“It's not fresh — but it is what it is!”
For now, Ms Muhimpundu is continuing to share her love of African fare with her children — Jasmine, 8, and little Jovanna, who is nine months old.
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Later this year, Ms Muhimpundu is planning a big dinner at Shepparton's African House, filled with music, performances, and — of course — food.
“I want to see what the people like first,” she said with a smile.
“And then, I will open my restaurant.”
Sombé Na Kuku: Cassava Leaves with Chicken
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I chose to share this recipe because it's my favourite dish and it's also rich in flavour. It's just different — it reminds me of back home in Tanzania. In Africa, my mum would blend sombé with her hands, pounding it till it was smooth. Here in Australia, you can easily just blend it in a blender but I believe the whole process using your hands to pound the cassava leaves is what makes the dish even more precious and enjoyable — because it's not easy!
Ingredients:
Most of the ingredients can be found at your local grocery store. The crayfish Maggi, palm oil and cassava leaves you can find at the Macintosh St African shop near Dominos.
● 1 cup Vegeta stock● 2 crayfish Maggi cubes● 1 tsp salt● 1 tsp nutmeg● 1 onion● 2 tbsp peanut butter● 1 cup palm oil● 1 tsp curry powder● 1 bag cassava leaves● Whole chicken
Method:
● Defrost the cassava leaves in hot water. Start dicing the onions and get the seasonings ready.
● After you're done with preparations, put the blended cassava leaves and chicken in a pot with all the seasonings, except the peanut butter and palm oil. Add water and let it cook for an hour — be patient.
● After an hour, your sombé should start to thicken — taste to see if it's seasoned properly. If not, stir in another Maggi cube.
● Stir the sombé to combine the peanut butter and palm oil. Let it cook until it rises to the top — that's when you know it's ready to eat.
● You can best enjoy sombé with rice or ugali, a type of maize flour porridge. If you choose to eat your sombé with ugali, you have to eat it with your hands. To eat ugali, pinch a sizeable lump with your fingers and mush it to make a round shape. Then form an indentation into the circle with your thumb. Use this to scoop up the sombé. Enjoy!
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