Varada's Kitchen and Garden

What I really liked about Zambian cuisine is the use of corn, the staple, to create a very unique bread n'shima. It is neither rolled nor baked but cooked as a thick porridge in water. It is used as the spoon to scoop up the sides that flavor it. The beans are the most popular side to the n'shima. They are not made with an elaborate gravy loaded with spices but cooked along with tomatoes and onions with sparingly used spices. I made tomato gravy in case we felt the need for something with liquid in it. Golabjamoun for dessert was my biggest surprise. Though it looks like the Indian gulab jamoon it is nothing like it. This golabjamoun is made with sweet potato. It is normally deep fried but I cooked it in my aebleskiver pan to avoid the fat and keep the flavor. I did not use any new ingredients for this meal. I used known ingredients in a different way. The corn meal used in Zambia is not available locally so I used Mexican masa, it is coarse but it gives the n'sh

Golabjamoun is known to me as a delicious dessert made with milk, flour and sugar. I was very surprised to find a very different recipe called by the same name. These golabjamoun are similar in appearance to the ones I know in that they are round, sweet and deep fried. The similarity ends there. I found these when I made a Zambian meal. They are made with sweet potato boiled in milk with sugar, formed into a dough and then deep fried. If you have read my blog then you probably know I don't deep fry anything. Instead I used my trusty aebleskiver or appe pan to cook them. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the side. If you are fond of dessert that is not too sweet then you will like this recipe. You will need 2 sweet potatoes 1 cup milk 2 tbsp. sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of the sweet potato) 1/4 cup flour 1/2 tsp. cinnamon oil for the pan Wash and peel the sweet potato. Cut it into 1 inch cubes. Put it in a pan with the milk and sugar and br

Tomato gravy works great to add a little liquid to the n'shima or corn porridge. I made this dish as part of a Zambian meal. The most interesting part of the recipe was grating a tomato instead of chopping or running it through the blender. The gravy is thick and adds flavor to the dishes it is paired with. You will need 2 large tomato 1 tbsp. onion, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tsp. paprika 1 tsp. cumin powder 1 tsp. flour 1/2 cup water Grate one tomato into a pan and set the pan on medium heat along with a little water. When it starts to boil add the onion, garlic, paprika and cumin powder. Allow it to thicken. Dice the second tomato and add it to the pan. Let the mixture cook until the diced tomato is mushy. Dissolve the flour in the water and add it to the pan. Mix well and allow the gravy to thicken. Turn off heat. The tomato gravy is ready.  

Unlike their spicy Asian cousins beans in Zambia are not cooked in spices. They are very mildly spiced and the onions, tomatoes and bean cooked together in a pot. I made these beans as part of a Zambian meal. We ate them with n'shima or corn porridge. It was a very different mild flavored meal. If you are fond of spicy food then this version of beans is not for you. Recipe adapted from here You will need 1 cup beans (I used red kidney beans) 1 onion, diced 1 large tomato, diced 1 tbsp. green pepper, minced salt to taste 1 tbsp. oil Soak the beans overnight. Next day discard the water. Add 1 cup of fresh water and pressure cook the beans until tender. In my pressure cooker that is 10 minutes with the pressure on or 3 whistles in pressure cookers that whistle. Place the beans in a pan and heat through. Add the onion, tomato and salt. Let it cook for about 5-10 minutes. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Cook another few minutes. Turn off heat.

N'shima is a thick corn porridge that can be used as a scoop to eat the other dishes on the plate. N'shima does not have much taste to it. It is the base on which the flavors from the side dishes are built up. I found a very well written write up on n'shima and food culture here . It has a lot of additional information that makes it a very interesting read. N'shima is made with Zambian corn meal called mealy meal. This finely ground corn is made from a variety of maiza that is different from that used in the US. I used masa, corn meal from the Mexican cuisine, to make n'shima. That gave the n'shima is yellowish hue. You will need 1 cup mealy meal (I used masa) 2 cups water Heat the water in a pan but do not let it boil. Add the cornmeal a little at a time stirring vigorously with each addition to prevent lumps. When all the cornmeal has been added continue to cook it, stirring with a wooden spoon. As it cooks the mixture will thicken and the sm

Yemeni meals are not really vegetarian but like other recipes from the Middle East, Yemeni recipes can be converted fairly easily given the large number of ingredients. I made a one dish meal with dessert. The two dishes made a scrumptious meal. I usually make 4-6 dishes when planning a full meal but my husband was travelling when I cooked this meal so I had to keep the quantity down. :) Boreck is a one dish meal. It is very filling with 10 layers of thinly rolled dough placed one on top of the other with the stuffing in between. When in a hurry it may seem like a lot of work. You should plan this dish when you have time. Then the rolling out of the dough to a paper thin disc will seem calming. For dessert I made halawat gajur. It is a delicious baked version of the gajar halwa as we know it. I started cooking this meal right after lunch. I made the dessert and planned on starting the Boreck at 3 pm. Then I got carried away chatting with my father and before I knew it it wa

Boreck or Borek literally means layers and is a recipe of Turkish origins that spread to other regions during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. This version is from Yemen and I found it here in my attempt to find a one dish meal. I used paneer to make this dish vegetarian. I made 10 layers of dough rolled thin enough to read through. Five layers are above the filling and five are below it. The surprise ingredient is cinnamon powder. I added it with a huge dose of skepticism but I was pleasantly surprised. The pastry was flaky and crispy. The filling was delicious. Everyone loved it and we all agreed this was a keeper, something I would make again. I used a spring-foam pan to bake the borek to make it easy on myself to take the pie out. My spring-foam pans are over 15 years old of a quality you don't see anywhere anymore. The pie was perfectly baked. You will need For the filling 7 oz. paneer 1 small onion, minced 1 tsp. coriander cumin powder 1 tsp. paprika salt to

Gajar halwa is common in south west Asia. But this version in my opinion takes the cake. Literally. It is baked into a cake. This will be my go to halwa recipe from now on. We all liked it very much. My daughter who is not really into sweets chose to pass on it but anyone who likes sweet dishes would love it. I made a small portion with just two carrots because I did not want too much leftover. The last few days I seem to be trying new things all the time and making them in tiny portions has worked out well. Especially of something as delicious as this halwa, that I love. It was an effort to have a small piece for dessert after dinner and leave the rest for another day. The only tiny pan I had on hand was heart shaped, so the cake is in the shape of a heart. You will need 2 carrots 2 tbsp. sugar 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. heavy cream 1 tbsp. ghee Wash and peel the carrots and shred them. Heat the ghee in a pan and add the shredded carrots.  Saute on medium heat u

As there are no country names with the letter X this meal comes from a province with that letter. Xinjiang is a western province of China adjoining the middle east. The food here is influenced largely by the middle east. The ethnic people of this region are the Uyghur or Hui. For my the meal I was looking for noodles as the main dish. I found a very detailed  laghman noodles  recipe with embedded videos to help make them. Then I found a really nice pulao (pilaf) recipe. The Uyghur polo is not vegetarian but could be easily converted using paneer. I will make the noodles some day but for this meal my main dish is Uyghur (ee-gur) polo. I read here that samsa, a street food similar to the Indian samosa, is served with polo. So samsa served as the side dish. For dessert I made a sweet rice called mifirfan. 'Fan' is rice in the local language. In this dish the rice is sweetened with apricots and raisins along with a little sugar. I did not use any new ingredients in this

Samosas are popular all over the world. The flavorful filling and the crispy crust is what makes the samosa so popular. The big drawback of a samosa is that it is deep fried. Samsa is a variation of the popular samosa and is widely popular in the middle east. In the Xinjiang province of China, where the food is heavily influenced by Arabic cuisine, samsa is a popular street food. It is cooked in a tandoor like oven and can be baked in a home oven. The filling is usually not vegetarian. I converted the original recipe by using potatoes and cheese. Like its cousin the samosa, the dough used for the samsa is not leavened. A strong flour is used and rolled out thinly to ensure it is cooked through. I used whole wheat flour that we use for chapatis.  You will need for 8-10 samsa For the filling 1 large potato 2 tbsp. onion, diced 1/4 cup feta cheese 2 tbsp. romano, cotija or any cooking cheese 1 tbsp. cumin seeds 1 tsp. paprika salt to taste For the