National Dishes of the World

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Ifisashi
Photo: LittleT889, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

side vegan

Ifisashi

Leafy greens simmered in a sauce of ground groundnuts – an everyday partner for nshima.

Eaten in: Zambia

Prep
15 min
Cooking
30 min
Total
45 min
Servings
4

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About the dish

Ifisashi is one of the most typical Zambian dishes: leafy greens such as pumpkin leaves, spinach, rape or sweet potato leaves, cooked in a thick sauce of finely ground raw groundnuts with onion and tomato. The nuts give the dish a creamy texture and a gently sweet, nutty flavour, turning humble greens into something filling. Ifisashi is served as a relish with nshima, which is used to scoop up the sauce with the fingers. Versions with dried fish or meat exist, but it is most often eaten just as it is, entirely plant-based.

Main ingredients

  • leafy greens
  • raw groundnuts
  • onion
  • tomato
  • salt

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Ifisashi

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/ifisashi

Ingredients

4 servings

4 servings

Method

  1. Grind the groundnuts in a grinder or blender to a fine powder, taking care not to turn them into butter.

  2. Wash the greens, remove any tough stems and cut the leaves into strips.

  3. Bring the water to the boil in a pot with the chopped onion, diced tomatoes and salt and cook for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the ground nuts, stir and simmer gently for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens and no longer smells of raw nuts.

  5. Add the greens, cover and cook for 10–15 minutes, stirring now and then, until tender and the sauce is creamy.

  6. Season with salt and serve warm with nshima.

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