Pap recipe

Namibia's staple stiff porridge of pearl millet flour, stirred hard until it holds its shape and eaten by hand with stew.

20 minuteseasy6 ingredients

Ingredients

• 150 g mahangu flour (pearl millet)
• 120 g fine maize meal
• 1000 ml water
• 1 pinch salt
• 250 ml soured milk, to serve
• 500 g meat or wild spinach stew, to serve

How to make Pap

1. Bring 1000 ml of water to the boil in a heavy pot.
2. Whisk 120 g of fine maize meal into 1000 ml of cold water, then pour that slurry into the boiling water and cook 5 minutes, stirring, so it does not lump.
3. Add 150 g of mahangu flour a handful at a time with one hand while you stir hard with a wooden spoon in the other. This fast, forceful stirring is what makes oshifima; a whisk will not do it.
4. Keep stirring over low heat for 2 to 3 more minutes until the mass pulls away from the pot and is smooth and very stiff. Add a pinch of salt if you want, though many cooks use none.
5. Turn the pot over onto a plate. The porridge should keep the shape of the pot and not spread.
6. Do not stir in milk or sugar: this is a savoury staple, not a breakfast porridge.
7. To eat, pinch off a piece, roll it into a ball in your fingers, press a hollow in it and scoop up the stew.
8. Serve with soured milk, grilled meat, or a stew of wild spinach or beef.

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