Did Julia Child Ever Make This?

I have watched women making nshima before but this week I decided I wanted to learn how to cook it myself. Nshima is the end result of boiling mealie meal and is the staple food for Zambians. Similiar to grits, only cooked longer, mealie meal is made from corn and is coarser than corn starch.

My motivation for wanting to learn how to cook this after four years is to provide food for our gardener Charles. So I asked our house helper Susan to teach me. I usually fix Charles a bowl of soup and bread, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with popcorn.  For Zambians, they haven't eaten unless they've had their nshima for the day. If you use that rule of thumb, Charles hasn't  eaten for several years at my house! 

Low in nutritional value, nshima is served with a cooked side-dish called relish. Relish consists of boiled vegetable leaves, onion, and tomato. The leaves I chose at the market were pumpkin leaves, or "chihuahua." Little did I know how labor-intensive these "dogs" are. To prepare them for cooking the little cellulose threads are pulled from each leaf, then chopped. Cooked in salt water with the tomato and onion, the greens are high in vitamins and enhance the otherwise tasteless nshima.


I was pretty sure I could make the relish, but the tall order of the day was for me to learn the art of making nshima. Zambian girls learn how to make nshima as early as seven years of age, as in Susan's case. She said it took her about a year to make nshima that would pass the test. 


As we sprinkled mealie meal into the boiling water I saw that others were hungry, too. I knew it wouldn't be a shock for Susan to see the weevils, and since I'm a fourth-year missionary veteran, we could both calmly fish them out and set them aside. Probably the insects would have raised the nutritional score! 

After it came to a boil, we boiled it a bit longer. Then mealie meal was added a second time and stirred. It seems we boiled the heck out of it until it was almost solid. Soon it was ready and we used a broad spoon to shape the heavy masses of nshima. I'm told that prepared nshima can be stored for two days. Perfect--Charles was working Friday and Saturday! 


One of the most fought-over parts of the nshima is the residue in the bottom of the pot, in the vernacular it's called "chikwangwa" or "chikoko." It's a bit crusty and chewy, but I didn't fight Susan for it. She ate it with delight--for my part, I thought it might need some butter or sugar on it!


As Susan left for the day and as I began cooking the relish, her expression tickled me. With a glance toward the pan she cast an anxious look, as if to say, "are you sure you can do this?" Well, I guess the proof of the pudding, uh, relish, is in the eating. So tell me--how was it, Charles?