Nshima Will Be Loved

NATIONAL DISH OF ZAMBIA -Nshima

Nshima, pretty similar to Dumboy, Fufu, Mealie-Meal, Pap and the myriad of other African dishes that which it is similar to. However, it is different in that it is made with corn meal. Now in Australia we have Cornflour, but apparently it is in fact more cornstarch than actual flour. So off I went on a trek around the exotic and foreign International markets of Melbourne to search high and low for maize flour. This was going to be arduous, was my thought, but then first store I walked into I found it straight away. Thank you random Asian grocery in Prahran!

Now this maize flour was yellow, which I guess it is reflective of the vegetable it is made from. But photos I had seen of Nshima were white. I assured myself that they had bleached the flour white, like wheaten flour is. A cosmetic procedure for flour if you will.

With trepidation left over from the remembrance of painstakingly pounding cassava to make Dumboy, I was assuaged when I saw Nshima making on Youtube. Nothing to it, thought I. But I learnt although it appears easy, it is an artform considered by Zambians to get the right texture and taste.

Nshima, as is many African meals, is eaten by hand. Taking a small piece and shaping it into a scoop to dip into the side dish (Ndiwo) and swallowing it. Eating is also done ritualistically, with the eldest at the meal eating first and then descending ages follow. It is a great communal meal and very venerated by Zambians. They've even have songs and folklore about the subject.


Enjoy, or as they say in Zambia, Enjoy!




For the Zambian national dish with a vegetarian side 'relish': http://people.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo/menu/nshima/nshima.shtml

Difficulty:       5 

Appearance:  2 

Taste:             2 

TOTAL:          9

This dish although similar to Dumboy, was SO much easier to make. You just had to keep stirring and add a little bit of maize flour at a time until you got the desired consistency.

My maize flour was yellow and so the end result was different to other photos that I had seen of Nshima. The bright yellow mass looked a little like mashed pumpkin, but unfortunately didn't taste as great. Not that it didn't have it's own flavour, it certainly beats Dumboy in that category. It also was easier to swallow and more malleable.

Nshima worked very well with the Ndiwo of Collared Greens with Peanut Powder. The smoothness of the Nshima juxtaposed the rough and grit of the Ndiwo. I have never tried Peanut Powder, and it's flavour permeated the greens well, giving it depth. Though next time I'll have to clean the greens more.