What the Life Loves

Well, now that I am cooking on my own, it seems a fitting time to reflect on the different sorts of food that I have learned about here in Malawi. I've also chosen this topic, because my phone tells me that I am running out of storage space, and as a large number of my pictures are of food, this will allow me to delete those pictures after posting.

Chikondo Moyo

This is the title item. It literally translates to "what the life loves" and is in the banana bread family. It is made with maize flour as well as some of the larger ground maize that is sifted out before making tsima (the polenta like staple dish here in Malawi, made from very very fine maize flour); the less fine maize gives a bit of a corn bread texture to chikondo moyo, but not a lot.

Sr. Mphatso says that the ratio of maize flours depends on the person; she likes to include some maize that has the outer husk as it adds more flavor, but the sisters didn't have any when we were baking. It was super yummy even without, and as the name states, brings joy to life. Frequently, street vendors sell it. Baked goods are hawked at market and typically carried in clear lidded plastic buckets. The below picture does not include chikondo moyo, but some other market foods.

Chinangwa/Casava

Casava is a root that when dug up looks to me like sweet potato, but really is nothing like. Well, you can boil it like a potato, and you can fry left over boiled pieces into chips, but the texture is very different. When boiled the inside turns into a soft translucent goop; I would say slime, but that sounds gross, and it's not. It has a mild flavor I can't really describe. In some regions, they boil it, then dry it, then grind it into flour. This also allows the casava to be saved for later, as unlike potatoes, once dug it's shelf life is a few days. My impression is that casava was the staple prior to the introduction of maize in the 1500s.

Bananas

I've heard that bananas are technically berries, but whatever the case is, in Malawi they produce fruit year round and come in lots of varieties. I like the little ones. All the ones I have seen are smaller than in the US, but some are 3/4 the size as opposed to half. The different varieties come with different textures (dryer, softer, etc) and sweetness. The flowers are really very striking and the bees and pollinating flies love them.

Papaya

The papayas by the sink are from one of the sisters's trees. We were lucky to get them as the vervet monkies usually steal them just as they are ripe. They run off with them cradled under their arm like a football. Sister Bertha thought that she had gotten some before the monkeys once and brought them into the pantry; she left the pantry for two minutes and came back in time to see a tiny monkey exiting the pantry papaya in arm. They, the papayas not the monkeys, come in pink and yellow varieties.

This past week, I purchased a big and a medium papaya at the market for the equivalent of 50¢. I only wanted the medium one as it was ripe and the right size for me. The vendor said the medium one was 300MK and the big one 400. I only had a 500MK note, but I pointed to the medium papaya and handed over my five hundred. The vendor pushed the big papaya over too. I pointed at both and said quistioningly, 500? He nodded, so I happily took my papayas and went home. I have eaten the medium papaya; it was delicious. I ate half one night, and the remaining half lasted fine covered overnight on my counter. Life without a fridge is very new still. The big papaya is ripening in my cupboard.

Batata

Refers to both Irish and sweet potatoes. I know potatoes are a new world food, but the sisters differentiate between the potatoes that way. Sweet potatoes are usually roasted, and are as sweet as candy. There is also an amazing dish called futali. You boil sweet potatoes and when they are almost done add peanut meal (peanuts pounded in a mortar until a fine meal and not yet peanut butter), then boil again. It looks like stew, but is so sweet and yummy! 

I've had the small Irish potatoes roasted or in a stew that was then served on rice, but "chips," that is French Fries or akupanga in Chichewa are most common. At the market, when you buy akupanga, it automatically comes with finely shredded fresh cabbage, very salty, but very good.

Mangoes

The trees were in bloom when I arrived the end of July, and while the fruit is still marble sized here in the mountains, piles of green mangoes are being hauled in to market from lower down where the season is much farther advanced than ours (the heat just really hit us this week). There seem to be two main varieties. The big rounder variety can be boiled while it is green to make it soft, gooey, and sweeter. I like the boiled green mangoes, but they are nowhere near as good as a ripe sweet mango. The texture is nice, but it is tart and lacks that mango flavor; it also takes the enamel off your teeth. Once I finish the pile I bought (almost everything is sold by the pile; little pyramids of stacked produce), I think I will wait until there are ripe ones available. Although, with the number if green ones at market, I'm amazed there are any left on the tree to ripen! The other variety of mango is smaller, less plump, and has a deeper curve to it. People will eat it green with salt or use it to make a super spicy chili.