Malawian Recipes

Malawian food is centered on nsima, a thick maize porridge eaten at lunch and dinner with a savory relish called ndiwo. The relish might be fish from Lake Malawi, beans, pumpkin leaves or other greens, and the whole meal is eaten by hand from shared plates. The lake shapes the cuisine: chambo, a tilapia-like fish, is the best known, and dried small fish are common inland. In the north, cassava is cooked into kondowole, a firmer and stickier cousin of nsima. Peanuts, beans, sweet potatoes, bananas and mangoes fill out the diet. Cooking is simple and relies on onion, tomato, garlic and a little chili rather than complex spice blends. Breakfast is often a thin maize or rice porridge, and snacks include banana fritters and roasted maize. Thobwa, a thick fermented maize and millet drink, is sold across the country, and nsima with a good relish is the meal people cook for guests.

Staple ingredients

• maize meal
• cassava
• beans
• lake fish
• peanuts
• pumpkin leaves
• bananas
• tomatoes and onions

• Main Dishes 2
• Side Dishes 2
• Snacks 1
• Drinks 1

Main Dishes

• Chambo Ndiwo (Malawian Fried Tilapia in Tomato Stew)MW55 minEasy
• Nyemba (Malawian Bean Stew with Tomato and Onion)MW1 h 55 minEasy

Side Dishes

• Nsima (Malawian Maize Porridge)MW40 minMedium
• Kondowole (Malawian Cassava Porridge)MW30 minMedium

Snacks

• Zitumbuwa (Malawian Banana Fritters)MW35 minEasy

Drinks

• Thobwa (Malawian Fermented Maize and Millet Drink)MW35 minMedium