The last dish on Round One was kind of like the boss level of a video game: Something I knew I had to overcome, but wasn’t necessarily happy about it.
As I’ve stated before, the Brassicas and I are not the best of friends.But the more research I did on Zambia, the more it became clear that I’d need to include a leafy green in this meal. Nshima, in Zambia, is the main attraction: A thick cornmeal porridge, used as a utensil as one might use, say, sticky rice in Thai cuisine.
But what would one eat their nshima with? That’s what the ndiwo is for.
Ndiwo isn’t a specific dish, but a general term for a Zambian side that is consumed with nshima.
Almost every ndiwo recipe I found involved leafy greens. Yay. My. Favorite. #Snark.
So I hemmed, and hawed, and looked up recipes that might be more to my juvenile tastes, but eventually, I resigned myself: Ndiwo would have to involve collards. I set out to prep the meal by picking up some white cornmeal from the Bob’s Red Mill outlet in beautiful Milwaukie.As I scanned the aisles looking for the cornmeal, a chorus of “Hi Bob!” rained through the store. Bob – THE Bob – was making his rounds.
An auspicious sign to start the prep! The food was easy enough to cook. The nshima cooked like a thick version of grits, and the ndiwo was essentially collard greens and peanut sauce. And I did survive one plateful before the sulfury collards, sweet peanuts and chewy nshima got to me.
What matters, though, is that we made it.
Round One, after about a year, is done.
The ndiwo recipe was sourced through Bridgewater College.
Nshima 🇿🇲- 4 cups water
- 2 cups corn meal
- Pour 4 cups of water into a medium size pot. Heat the water on medium-high to luke warm.
- Slowly sprinkle 3/4 cup of the corn meal into the pot while whisking continuously. Keep stirring slowly until the mixture begins to thicken and boil, switching to a bamboo spoon when it gets thicker. Turn the heat to medium, cover the pot, and let simmer for 3-5 minutes.
- Slowly pour into the pot the remaining cornmeal and stir with until smooth and thick.
- Cover, turn the heat off and let nshima sit on the stove for another 2-3 minutes.
- Allow to cool so it can be handled.
Ndiwo
- 1 lb. chopped collard greens
- 1 chopped tomato
- 1 1/2 cups peanut powder
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 ts baking soda
- 1/4 ts salt
- Pour 1 cup of water into medium size cooking pot. Add baking soda and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Place pot on burner on medium heat.
- Add collard greens and the tomato. Cook on medium high heat for 5-8 minutes.
- Add peanut powder, salt and water.
- Stir thoroughly and lower the heat to low.
- Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes stirring every 2 to 3 minutes to prevent bottom from burning.