Zambian Meal

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'shima a yellowish hue which you would not see if you were eating n'shima in Zambia.


Here are the recipes for the dishes on the menu

• N'shima
• Beans
• Tomato Gravy

And for dessert

• Golabjamoun

Golabjamoun (Zambian Sweet Potato Dessert)

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 bring it to a boil.

Lower the heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are cooked and the milk is incorporated. Mash the sweet potato as it cooks. You will have a thick paste.

Mix the flour in the paste to form dough. Heat the aebleskiver or appe pan and add a couple drops of oil into each of the holes. Turn down heat to medium and drop a spoonful of batter in each of the holes.

Give it a few minutes to cook then turn it over. Once it is brown on all sides it is done.

Golabjamoun is ready.

They taste best when hot but can be reheated.

Zambian Tomato Gravy

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.

 

Zambian Beans

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 (Zambian Corn Porridge)

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 smell of raw cornmeal will go away. When it is lumpy, almost dry and well cooked n'shima is ready.

N'shima is eaten with sides like Zambian beans or tomato gravy.