Tonight we had the pleasure of a Malawian meal. Josh went searching for a traditional meal and found that every site mentioned this dish, saying you’ve not fully experienced Malawi until you’ve eaten this meal. We figured it must be done!
To begin, we made a fruit chutney to go with our Chambo, simmering rehydrated dried apricots, raisins, peaches and red onion with sugar, coriander, and chili powder. This sat on the stove for an hour after bubbling. It smelled so good as we waited! Thankfully it makes extra and we’ll be putting it on baked brie in the near future! So good!
https://www.internationalcuisine.com/malawian-fruit-chutney/
While this cooked away we made some Nsima, a staple in some African countries as tortillas are in Mexico. I messed this up a bit, but it worked out well. We were to put some of the cornmeal in the cold water before adding it to the boiling water, but I added all the cornmeal. This was made into a paste before adding, with the remainder of the cornmeal added slowly after simmering for 15 minutes, making a thick, play dough consistency.
https://www.internationalcuisine.com/malawian-nsima/
We also took this time to make the Malawian curry powder. Some spices we already had in powder form while the rest we put through our grinder.
This curry consisted of hot red chiles, coriander, peppercorns, poppy seeds, black mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and cloves. This had a kick to it, though I was able to handle it with my weak tongue.
https://www.internationalcuisine.com/malawian-curry-powder/
Once the chutney was ready we took the thawed tilapia that had lemon and salt, dredged it in flour, and pan fried it.
The fish was set to the side and we cooked the onion, adding the curry powder then water with carrots and pepper, cooking for ten minutes. The chutney was added and warmed, then the tilapia once again, buried in the sauce.
https://www.internationalcuisine.com/malawian-chambo/
This was eaten with Kachumbari, a Malawian salad made with tomatoes, red onion, jalapeños, cucumber, garlic, lime, cilantro, salt and pepper. The sauce consisted of garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, honey, parsley, basil (we couldn’t find the basil when we were out), and salt and pepper.
Some of us began by eating traditionally, using our hands, grabbing some Nsima and forming it, adding the salad and fish. Others used a fork, but we all agreed it was best eating it all together. The only ones that didn’t like it much simply don’t like fish. I did quite enjoy it, though a bit spicy for my preferences.
Dessert was Mbatata, a cookie made of yams (it called for sweet potatoes), butter, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and raisins. It was rolled out and cut into the traditional shape of the heart. They were easy to make, though with cooking the yams it obviously took longer.
The cookies were tasty, with most eating two. They were more of a cake texture than a traditional cookie, spongy and soft. We would try these again.
Did you know that the median age in Malawi is only 16.4? The age expectancy for women is 63 while for men it’s 58. Of those aged 15 or more, 34.2% cannot read or write.
The average number of children a woman has is 5.9 and the average daily wage is 551 kwatcha, or approximately just under $33 Canadian a day.
Malawi was a British colony and its top exports are tea and tobacco. It’s the sixth safest country in Africa and a fifth of the country is covered in water though it’s landlocked.