COPPERWhat is the national dish of Lesotho?
Lesotho has no officially declared national dish, and two are named. The most cited is papa, a stiff porridge of white maize meal eaten by hand with moroho, leafy greens cooked with onion and tomato; it is on the table in almost every Basotho household. The other is motoho, a fermented sorghum porridge, which some references call the national dish.
Papa or motoho: two answers
References do not agree on Lesotho, so here are both answers and where they come from. The reference list of national dishes gives pap (papa), the maize porridge of Southern Africa. The general reference article on Lesotho states instead that the national dish is motoho, a fermented sorghum porridge, and describes pap as a staple. Neither claim rests on a law or an official decision.
In daily life, papa is the one you will meet. Food guides to Lesotho describe it as a staple enjoyed in almost every household, and add that you can hardly have moroho without papa. Motoho is made from sorghum, the cereal that fed the region before maize spread, and is fermented into a sour porridge.
What is papa?
Papa is white maize meal cooked in salted water until it is too stiff to stir, then steamed until it holds its shape. It must end up firm, not creamy: it is eaten with the right hand, a piece pinched off to scoop up whatever is served beside it. The same porridge is called pap or mieliepap in South Africa and nsima or ugali further north.
Our papa recipe follows the Basotho method:
- Slurry: 100 g of the maize meal is mixed with cold water, stirred into boiling water and cooked five minutes.
- Thickening: the rest is added a handful at a time, stirred hard until the mass pulls away from the pot.
- Steaming: covered on low heat for about 25 minutes, turned over twice with a wooden stick, the lesokoana. Turning it is called ho fetola.
What is moroho?
Moroho means greens: leaves cooked with onion, tomato, oil and salt until tender. In Lesotho these are often amaranth, pumpkin leaves or rape rather than spinach, and wild greens, chard or cabbage depending on the season and the household.
Onion is fried five minutes, tomatoes cook down until saucy, then about 500 g of chopped greens go in, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes. With a mound of papa, moroho is the everyday Lesotho plate; meat, tinned fish or an egg are added when there is some.
What is motoho?
Motoho is a porridge of sorghum meal that is fermented before cooking. The sorghum meal is mixed with warm water, one part to three, and a traditional starter culture called tomoso is added. The mixture ferments overnight, then is boiled until cooked, which gives it its sour taste.
Motoho also appears among Lesotho's drinks, alongside ginger beer, for which the country is known, and locally brewed beer. Another sorghum dish is likhobe, a stew of beans, berries and sorghum; the same name is also used for dry maize kernels boiled until soft.
Where papa comes from
Papa is a maize dish, and maize is a newcomer in Southern Africa. It came from the Americas with the Portuguese between the 16th and 17th centuries; before that, sorghum and millet were the staple cereals across most of sub-Saharan Africa. African farmers adopted maize because it grew much like sorghum but gave higher yields, and it gradually replaced sorghum except in the driest regions.
In Lesotho the porridge is known as papa or bogobe, and among Sotho speakers on both sides of the border also as bohobe. Mieliepap, the South African name, is used too. Sorghum did not disappear: it lives on in motoho and in likhobe.
British rule left its own layer, visible in potato-based dishes and in the British desserts still found in the country.
Other dishes to know from Lesotho
Basotho cooking combines African traditions with British influence, and shares much with South Africa, which surrounds Lesotho entirely. Sauces are generally less spicy than in other African countries, and beetroot and carrot salads are common side dishes. Chesanyama is sold throughout the country with cabbage, pap and baked bean salad.
Sesotho potjiekos is the slow dish: mutton on the bone browned in a three-legged iron pot, then carrots, potatoes, green beans and cabbage laid in flat layers on top and steamed over low coals for three hours without stirring once.
You will find all three recipes on our page about the food of Lesotho, and the neighbouring kitchens in our guide to Southern African food, including Botswana.
The recipes
- Pap🇱🇸 Lesotho · 45 minutes
Moroho🇱🇸 Lesotho · 50 minutes
Sesotho potjiekos🇱🇸 Lesotho · 4 hours and 15 minutes
Questions people ask
Is pap the national dish of Lesotho?
Papa (pap) is the dish most often given as Lesotho's national dish and is eaten in almost every household, but there is no official national dish. Some references name motoho, a fermented sorghum porridge, instead.
What is motoho?
Motoho is a sorghum-meal porridge fermented overnight with a starter called tomoso, then boiled. It has a sour taste.
What is papa served with?
Papa is served with moroho (cooked leafy greens), and with meat, tinned fish or an egg when available.
What is the difference between papa and pap?
None: papa is the name used in Lesotho and pap the usual name in South Africa, for the same stiff maize porridge.
What do you stir papa with?
A wooden stick called a lesokoana, used to stir the maize meal and to turn the papa over while it steams.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Lesotho: 14 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Angola?
- What is the national dish of Botswana?
- What is the national dish of Eswatini?
- What is the national dish of Malawi?
- What is the national dish of Mozambique?