COPPERNsima recipe
Zambia's staple: white maize meal cooked first into a thin porridge, then beaten stiff with more meal until a wooden stick stands in it, eaten by hand with relish.
Ingredients
- 600 g white maize meal
- 1500 ml water
How to make Nsima
- Mix 600 g maize meal with 1500 ml cold water into a smooth slurry.
- Bring 1.25 l water to the boil in a heavy pot, pour in the slurry while stirring and cook 10-15 minutes over medium heat, stirring now and then, until it is a smooth thin porridge that bubbles slowly.
- Add the remaining 600 g maize meal a handful at a time, pressing and folding it against the side of the pot with a flat wooden stick (umwiko) after each addition.
- Keep paddling hard over low heat for 3-5 minutes until the nshima is smooth, dense and pulls away from the pot; no salt goes in.
- Cover and leave on the lowest heat for 3 minutes.
- Dip a wooden spoon in water and scoop out smooth mounds onto plates; eat with the right hand, pinching off a lump to scoop up the relish.
What is Nsima?
Nsima is a traditional dish from Zambia, boiled, and takes about 40 minutes from start to finish. It is built around white maize meal. The recipe below uses 2 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Nsima take?
At 40 minutes it is quicker than 89% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 3 dishes built on white maize meal. The method runs to 6 steps, the longest being 10 minutes.
Any tips for making Nsima?
Cook the thin porridge first, then beat the rest of the meal in against the pot wall until the stick stands up in it.
How Nsima compares
White maize meal appears in only 2 other dishes in the atlas.
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on white maize meal, from other countries.
Copper documents Zambia alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.