Cooking Nshima

We were put to the test of making the nshima for Elistina and Matilda one day at lunch. They do it so well, but they wanted us to give it a try. It is not as easy as it looks. Angela had fun trying it for the first time. Joy and I have done this before, but as you can see it took both of us -- one to hold the hot pot and the other to stir. This is a technique that is hard to learn!

Nshima is the staple food of Zambia. Our workers eat this every day for lunch. You must first get the water and mealie meal to a rapid boil while covered. Then, you begin adding more mealie meal and stir like you've never stirred before. It begins to look like mashed potatoes at this point, but you keep adding more mealie meal, and then you must do this fast whipping action with a large wooden spoon. Finally, you allow it to sit and thicken and then you make large spoonfuls for everyone to enjoy. It tastes rather bland by itself, so its necessary to add some kind of relish - and not the American relish you're thinking about. They fix this collard green stuff called "rape" with onions and tomatoes that goes great with nshima. If you ever come to Zambia, you've got to try it!