Quick Tip - How to re-heat rice without a microwave

I remember when my parents first got a microwave. EVERYTHING was cooked in it. Then as time went on, and the novelty wore off it was condemned to heating milk for hot chocolate and reheating leftovers, the odd can of baked beans, my favourite instant noodles from China town.

Then there was the cancer when we all thought we would get cancer from using a microwave. Nowadays we realise that they are no worse than cell phones (and FAR less annoying!). I miss having a microwave, they saved time and saved electricity but I have at least found an effective way of re-heating rice on the cooker and you don’t need to really stir like you do with a microwave.

- Put your rice in a sieve
- In a saucepan only slightly larger than the serve pour a couple of inches of boiling water
- Place the sieve over the water and cover
- Steam until piping hot all the way through – about 4 or 5 minutes for cold rice.

Zam Eats: The Nshima Obsession

It is shameful that I have been back in Zambia so long and not really given traditional Zambian fare some coverage. To be honest, the cuisine is far from varied as things go, outside of the capital it is difficult to get more than meat pies, sausages and of nshima!

Nshima is a commone food staple throughout sub-Saharan Africa and has other names such as gari or foo foo. If you are familiar with polenta then it is more or less the same thing, except that nshima is white and is made with water only - no butter, cream or anything else. Like polenta, nishima is made from maize and particularly now during the rainy season, maize can be seen growing eeverywhere. It is stiff and comes in a large hot mound that you then break pieces from and roll into a ball. This ball is then dipped into sauce or vegetables. It's hard work to make and I confess I have never really cooked it myself because it requires so much elbow grease to mix it well!

Despite its blandness it is surprisingly addictive, both my husband and I love it and most Zambians will eat nshima twice a day. With nshima usually comes some vegetables like cabbage, rape (a type of kale), pumpkin leaves or eggplant and this is called relish. In addition might be some protein like chicken or beans and sometimes there is beef or fish.

Many people in the Lusaka area complain that it is difficult to find nshima restaurants and when you do find it, it's very expensive. This is usually because people are looking at lodges and hotels. We have found that if you are prepared to do a little searching, you will find lovely nshima and usually less than $4.

Power Salsa

I call this power salsa because it is full of healthy foods, avocados are packed full of protein and good fats, mangoes are great antioxidents, onion helps boost your immune system and stringent ginger is also a good anti oxidant and helps digestion. I ate this in a pitta with some grilled white fish and it was wonderful.

1 medium size avocado

1 large mango

1 large ripe tomato

2 spring onions

1 heaped teaspoon of grated ginger

The juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander

Salt and pepper

Finely chop the spring onion.

Chop everything else so that it is quite small but still a little chunky.

Mix all ingredients to together.

That's it!

Fringilla Farm and Butchery

Fringilla Farm and Lodge is about 40 km from Lusaka out on the Great North Road, a decent enough distance to make us feel like we are escape the big smoke for a while but not too far.

We were told about this farm by a friend and we were very impressed, the complex is very big, with beautifully kept grounds, a restaurant with excellent service and a well maintained farm. We were especially excited by the butchery that sells everything from beef to game meat and the staff were attentive. Unfortunately they were out of pork spare ribs but we did leave with a leg of lamb – lamb is very rare in Zambia, and some lovely free range chicken. We can't wait to go back and stock up, the meat is of such good quality because the animals clearly live happy lives, being allowed to roam free and are well fed.

Banana Raisin Muffin
Try these delicious muffins that are full of good things!
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Pasta Al Forno

Pasta al forno is baked pasta. Probably the most famous is lasagne, this recipe is kind of a deconstructed lasagne inspired by the Greek baked pasta dish pasticcio. It is less time consuming than lasagne, and would be great for a dinner party with a green salad.

Serves 4

375 grams of short pasta – macaroni, elbows, rigatoni

Meat Sauce

1 bottle of passata (about 690gram or 720 ml)

1 large onion finely chopped

500 grams of minced beef

A large bunch of fresh oregano roughly chopped or a couple of teaspoons of dried

White sauce:

1 large dessertspoon of butter

1 large dessertspoon of white flour

2 bay leaves

300 - 500 mls of milk

1 large egg beaten

½ teaspoon of fresh grated nutmeg

2 ½ cups of strong cheese

Salt and pepper

First make the meat sauce:

Fry the onion until soft and transparent

Add the beef and brown

Add the passata and oregano and simmer for about 2 hours

Test for salt and pepper

The sauce should be thick and with very little extra liquid.

When this sauce is ready, preheat the oven to 150 c and start on the white sauce and pasta.

Melt the butter with the flour and cook the paste for a couple of minutes.

Add the bay leaves

Dribble in the milk a little at a time, don't rush as you will get lumps

When the sauce is the consistency of single cream, cook until thick, stirring all the time.

While your sauce is thickening, cook the pasta until a little soft but still quite hard in the middle – about 4 or 5 minutes.

When the white sauce has thickened, remove from heat and leave to cool a little, add the beaten egg and nutmeg

In a large bakind dish or pan add the pasta and sprinkle half the cheese over the pasta, then add a layer of meat sauce – you may need to use all, you want to cove the pasta but not drown it.

Spread over the white sauce and the rest of the cheese,

Bake for 30 minutes until sizzling and cheese is melted.

Spicy Orzo

When we have people round for dinner, rather than trying to impress them with fancy cookery, I tend to stick with simple and tasty. I don't want to spend all night in the kitchen sweating and stressing over stacking vegetables and adding just the right amount of jus. That's not really my style anyway.

I prefer simple things that are no more effort for six as they would be for two – roast chicken say, or a kind of one pot dish if it's something really relaxed.

 

On New year's Eve we had some friends around and I made this great orzo dish. I had never used orzo before (therefore breaking my rule of not doing something you have never cooked before for a party!) but it was really easy to use and the dish looked smelled wonderful on the table where people helped themselves. I didn't have any olives but I reckon they would be really good in it.

 

Serves 4 – 6 people

 

• 1 pack of orzo
  
• 1 small tin of tomato paste (about a tablespoon)
  
• 3 large ripe tomatoes roughly chopped
  
• 2 large aubergines (egg plants) cut into small pieces or cubes
  
• 4 large garlic cloves
  
• 2 teaspoons of fennel seeds
  
• 1 heaped teaspoon of paprika
  
• 1 rounded teaspoon or cinnamon
  
• 4 – 6 large spicy sausages like bockwurst or chorizo
  
• 3 – 4 large dried red chillies
  
• A large handful or chopped fresh oregano
  
• The same of fresh basil
  
• About ¾ pint of water
  
• A little oil
  
• Salt and pepper
  

 

• Pre-heat your oven to about 160c
  
• Oil a shallow baking dish or tin
  
• Empty the orzo into the tin
  
• Add the vegetables
  
• Slacken the tomato paste with water and pour over the orzo
  
• Bash the fennel seeds and chillies with a pestle and mortar until quite fine
  
• Add to the pasta with the paprika, cinnamon and whole cloves of garlic
  
• Cut the sausages into 2 inch pieces on a slant and add
  
• Add 2/3 of the oregano
  
• Add about ½ pint of water
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  
• Mix well
  
• Cover and bake for about 30 minutes
  
• Check after 20 minutes to see if the pasta needs more water
  
• The pasta should not be liquid but have a thick sauce just clinging to it
  
• Check for seasoning and add more salt if desired
  
• When the pasta is cooked remove and add 2/3 of the basil and mix well
  
• Scatter the rest of the fresh herbs on top just before serving