Learning to Cook Nshima at Home

It just doesn't get any better than this for my girls. I've shared before that nshima is Zambia's staple food. Little babies take their first bite of it before they are a year old. Small girls look forward to the day when they will be strong enough to stir it on their own. Nshima is not just food here; it's a part of Zambian identity. It is prepared at least twice each day requiring strong arms and shoulders to stir. There are two ingredients in nshima, water and mealy meal which is a heavily processed maize (corn) flour.

There are two different grinds, coarse and breakfast. The breakfast grind is a powdery texture with just a tiny bit of grain. The coarse is about the consistency of Cream of Wheat. Both grinds are made with water only. For lunch and dinner, the cook continues adding flour (mealy meal) a little bit at a time until it forms a stiff dough. It is always eaten by hands only, no utensils of any kind.

For breakfast, it is much thinner, like porridge. No matter how it is eaten, it seems to be a real comfort food and must be served to Zambian guests or they are almost, no they ARE offended. This is one of the first cultural lessons we were taught by more than a few people within days of landing in Zambia.

All of the Sibley kids like nshima. The girls have been waiting for Bridget to teach them how to cook the sacred dish on our own stove in our own pots. The pictures below tell the whole story.

Bridget is stirring with a heavy wooden spoon she brought from home while Isata adds mealy meal a little at a time. After the mixture is a porridge like consistency, it is covered to keep the boiling blops inside the pot where it cooks undisturbed for ten minutes.

Sia and Shauna prepare the vegetables that we will eat with the nshima. They like each ingredient finely chopped which seems like too much work to me but they are the cooks!

Okay, ten minutes is up. It is now time to add more mealy meal slowly while trying to keep the hot mixture from bubbling all over the stove or bare hands.

During this process, Bridget was talking to the girls about nshima and how to make it just right. I am in awe of Zambian women. They are STRONG!

Bridget show Shauna how to stir just right. She doesn't pull the spoon over the whole pan. Instead she uses it to squish the mixture against the side of the pot.

Now she turns the mixing over to Shauna. It must be mixed thoroughly to remove any lumps. Isata is cooking the "relish" which is anything eaten with nshima.

Now it is Isata's turn to stir. This was very difficult for both girls. But they enjoyed Bridget's instruction and presence in the kitchen.

Sia prepares more vegetables. They are so yummy!

After cooking, the pot is covered for a few minutes while the rest of dinner is prepared and served. Then it is scooped out of the pan with a special spoon. After cooling just a bit, it is ready to dig into, literally. It is eaten with fingers and hand. Last night, there was more juices than usual in the sauce. The kids had a ball but oh were they all a miss when they finished.

Jason should return from his trip to Malawi this evening. He will be absolutely exhausted. He called me last night just before climbing on board the bus to sleep. Yes, you read that right. The bus was scheduled to depart at 4:30 a.m. so everyone just spent the night on a parked bus.

They were hoping to reach Lusaka in time to catch an early afternoon bus to Ndola. That didn't happen but he still should be home some time tonight. Once he gets rested, I hope he will write a post about the trip to put on our website www.sibzam.org under the journal section. We've only talked a handful of times for just a few minutes. But it was enough for me to hear the extreme exhaustion in his voice. He is absolutely spent. My heart ached for him all night knowing he was trying to sleep on the bus.

Thank you all of your love and prayers. You are with us every step of the way.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie