Day 5

Soooo today's food didn't quite work out... :( but that's ok! That happens, and you just gotta roll with it. I tried to make nshima. (the N is mostly silent. So it is just pronounced "shima.") I know, I know... after living in Zambia for 6 months I really should have had this down! But the truth is, sorry to say, I only made nshima about 3 or 4 times while I was there! The zambian guys on our team were usually the ones to prepare the nshima.... They made it sooooo perfect and amazing that I usually just let them handle it! My biggest problem tonight was that I ran out of mealie half way through. (Which, to my knowledge, mealie is not something that you can really get in the states.) But if i hadn't run out of mealie, it would have been my best nshima yet! (My other ones turned out really lumpy... at least this one was going of smooth.) So in the end, I added a bit of extra water and turned it into "porridge. " In zambia we often ate this porridge made out of mealie for breakfast... so it is still a zambian food. :)


Instead of explaining how to make the nshima, I am just going to explain how to make the porridge... since that is what I ended up with!


Ingredients:

*mealie meal. Mealie is made of finely ground white corn.

*cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, apples, bananas... ect.







*So first you just boil some water... probably about 5 cups


*Before you start adding the mealie to your boiling water, you need to make it into a paste. You make this paste by combining about 2 cups or so of mealie with enough water to make it into a smooth mixture. If you don't do this, your porridge will end up pretty lumpy.


Here's some mother's pride. :) I was kinda nervous bringing this back home... I was just hoping that nobody would take my mealie from me when I was going through immigration!

Here is what the "paste" looks like.

*Now you add the paste to the boiling water. Let everything boil together, and stir continuously. Do NOT leave it or it most likely will burn! (Mine got slightly burnt.)


*It should get pretty thick, but you also want it to still be kinda liquidy... You may need to add a bit more water.


Sorry... this is not the best picture... :P

*And it should be done now! Add some sugar, spices, and fruit... :) I loved eating this for breakfast when I was in Zambia... but not everybody likes it. 

Man, making this made me really really miss Zambia. I've only been home for about a month, but already I want to go back! :( Anyhow, thanks for reading! :)