Nsima

I've been reading a book about a Malawi boy who created a windmill to help his family during a famine. Aside from being saddened from reading about their hunger, I was also fascinated by his description of a local staple: nsima (pronounced "seema"). (Other African nations call it nshima.) Basically it's like polenta that you use to sop up a vegetable relish.

All you do is boil some water and slowly add the corn meal. The recipe linked above suggests 2 1/2 cups of water per cup of corn meal. That's all I made because I just wanted a half cup for each of us. You add half of the corn meal when the water is boiling, stirring to remove lumps, and then boil for a few minutes. Then you add the rest of the corn meal, slowly.

In the end, you have this thick substance, and after I put it on my plate, it seemed to firm up so that you really could tear chunks off of it like he does in the book. That's the part that had always confused me - I pictured nsima as grits or something, and how would you sop up anything with grits running through your fingers? But this really is more like polenta.

I served with some blanched green beans and leftover black chickpea curry. It was a good dinner! I can definitely see how the nsima satisfies the stomach, and I really liked it with the Indian dish in place of rice. I'd make it again!