Ifisashi (Ifisashi)
Overview
Ifisashi is a Zambian dish of green leaves cooked in a creamy groundnut sauce, eaten as a thick relish-soup. Pumpkin leaves, rape, spinach, cassava leaves or other greens are chopped and boiled briefly with tomato and onion. Raw groundnuts, roasted and pounded into a fine flour, are then stirred in with a little water, and the mixture is simmered until the sauce is smooth, rich and lightly nutty. It is seasoned simply with salt. Ifisashi is served with nshima, the stiff white maize porridge eaten at almost every Zambian meal, and pieces of nshima are used to scoop it up.
History
The name ifisashi comes from Bemba, one of Zambia's main languages, and in Chinyanja it is called visashi. Groundnuts are an important crop for small farmers across Zambia and Malawi, and cooking greens with groundnut flour is an old way of adding protein to vegetables. Ifisashi is common at family meals, school lunches and at roadside eating places in Lusaka and the Copperbelt.
Main ingredients
Pumpkin leaves, groundnuts, tomato, onion, spinach. The soup is built on water and is usually served hot. Diet: vegan; usually gluten-free.
Explore: Tomato soups · Pumpkin and squash soups · Spinach and greens soups
Recipe
Method
- 15 min
Bring 400 ml water to the boil with the tomatoes and onion and cook for 5 minutes.
- 25 min
Add the greens and cook for 5 minutes, until wilted.
- 3
Mix the groundnut flour with a little cold water and stir it in.
- 420 min
Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often so it does not stick.
- 5
Season with salt and serve with nshima.
- ✓
Serve. About 55 min from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
