COPPERIfisashi recipe
Zambia's everyday relish for nshima: greens simmered with tomato and onion in a sauce of pounded raw groundnuts until it turns thick and oily.
Ingredients
- 200 g groundnuts
- 500 g pumpkin leaves
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 500 ml water
- 1 tsp salt
How to make Ifisashi
- Pound or grind 200 g raw shelled groundnuts to a fine powder; a food processor or coffee grinder works.
- Wash and roughly chop 500 g pumpkin leaves (or sweet potato leaves or spinach); chop 1 onion and 2 tomatoes.
- Bring 500 ml water to the boil in a pot, add the tomatoes and onion and cook 5 minutes.
- Stir in the groundnut powder, lower to medium heat and stir 5 minutes until it thickens into a sauce.
- Add the greens and 1 tsp salt, cover and simmer 20-30 minutes, stirring now and then and adding a splash of water if it catches.
- It is ready when the greens are soft and the groundnut sauce is thick, oily and clinging to the leaves; serve hot with nshima.
What is Ifisashi?
Ifisashi is a traditional dish from Zambia, simmered in one pot, and takes about 1 hour from start to finish. It is built around pumpkin leaves and groundnuts. The recipe below uses 6 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Ifisashi take?
At 60 minutes it is quicker than 77% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 2 dishes built on pumpkin leaves. The method runs to 6 steps, the longest being 20 minutes.
Any tips for making Ifisashi?
Grind the groundnuts to a powder before they go in; whole nuts never melt into the sauce that binds the greens.
How Ifisashi compares
Hard to find elsewhere: pumpkin leaves (2) and groundnuts (3).
Copper documents Zambia alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.