Fish Fried Rice

A great way to use up cooked rice – we always boil more than we need and freeze the rest for quick meals like this one. To keep this as healthy as poss I used canola oil which has omega oils in it. Choose a firm fish that will keep its shape when cooked – I used Nile perch (one of the few types of fish we can get here) but any thick white fish should do like cod or haddock though it may flake a little.

For 2

- 1 tablespoon of canola, vegetable or light olive oil
- 1 tsp on cumin
- 1 tsp or ground coriander seeds
- 1 large cup of cooked rice
- 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
- 1 large clove of garlic finely chopped
- 2 stalks of celery finely chopped
- 1 large ripe tomatoe finely sliced
- 2 white fish fillets cut into large bite sized chunks
- 1 small chilli finely chopped – optional
- 1 heaped teaspoon of ginger
- 1 dessertspoon of rice vinegar or lime juice
- 1 dessertspoon of fish sauce
- ½ dessertspoon of tamarind or pad thai sauce
- 1 dessertspoon of soy sauce (depending on how salty/sweet you like it)

- Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a medium hear

- Fry the spices for minute or so

- Add the onion and soften

- Add the garlic and celery and fry until the celery is fairly soft

- Add the tomato and chilli if using and cook until tomatoes are liquid

- Add the fish and ginger and fry fish on all sides

- Add the rice and the rest of the ingredients

- Cook until fish is tender

· You could also add any of the following – cashew or peanuts, beaten egg, fresh coriander , tuna or crab meat, bean sprouts etc, etc, etc!

In Search of the perfect Nshima

Currently this a favourite place of mine for nshima. They are really friendly and are just opposite the gallery where I spend a lot of my time these days.

The nshima was not as good as the first time, when it was soft and yielding with no dryness, but they give you a huge piece of chicken and 2 relishes. This huge meal costs K15,000 which is about $4 I think!

But the search for good places to eat nshima in Lusaka continues!

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.

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