Malawi

🇲🇼Malawi

Masuku

Uapaca kirkiana, an indigenous wild loquat with yellow-brown, pear-flavoured fruit; eaten fresh and used to make a traditional wine and opaque beer in Malawi.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mbatata Buns

Soft, slightly sweet yeasted buns made with mashed sweet potatoes, flour, milk, butter, eggs, and sugar; a tender, golden-crumbed roll popular for breakfast and snacks in Malawi.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mbatata Cookies

Soft, cake-like Malawian cookies made with mashed sweet potatoes, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and raisins; traditionally cut into heart or round shapes and baked until golden.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mkhwani

Tender pumpkin leaves peeled to remove the fuzzy coating, then simmered with tomatoes, onions, and groundnut flour until thick and creamy; one of the most common ndiwo relishes in Malawi.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mlamba

A Malawian river-fish preparation simmered with tomato, onion and local aromatics.

🇲🇼Malawi

Moringa

Leaves of the Moringa oleifera tree, exceptionally rich in calcium and protein; used as a green relish and as a powdered supplement added to maize porridge for children.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mowa

A traditional Malawian opaque beer made by fermenting thobwa for five or six days until alcoholic; can be brewed from maize, millet, sorghum, or cassava, and is often home-brewed for gatherings.

🇲🇿Mozambique

Mozambican Cashew

Castanha de caju

Cashews from the northern provinces, roasted in the shell at the roadside and sold warm in paper cones.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mpasa

Lake Malawi fish prepared by grilling or frying and served with nsima.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mpiru Otendera

Malawian leafy greens cooked with groundnut flour into a thick relish for nsima.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mpunga

Rice grown in lowland and irrigated areas of Malawi, used as a less common but valued alternative to nsima; often served with beans, vegetables, or fish.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mtedza

Groundnuts, or peanuts, are one of Malawi's most important crops and a daily source of protein and oil; used whole, roasted, or ground into flour for stews, relishes, futali, and snacks.

🇲🇼Malawi

Mtedza Puffs

Small Malawian fried groundnut pastries sold as a sweet or savoury snack.

🇲🇼Malawi

Nandolo

Pigeon peas, an important legume in Malawi, especially in the southern region; the seeds are stewed with nsima and the leaves are also cooked as a relish.

🇲🇼Malawi

Ndiwo

The relish or side dish served with nsima in Malawi; usually a cooked vegetable — pumpkin leaves, amaranth, cassava leaves, or beans — sometimes enriched with dried fish, groundnuts, or a little meat.

🇹🇿Tanzania

Ndizi Kaanga

Ripe or half-ripe bananas sliced and fried until the edges caramelise, eaten as a side or a snack.

🇲🇼Malawi

Nkhalamba

A slow-cooked Malawian goat stew with onions, tomatoes, garlic, and curry spices; goat is preferred for celebrations and is simmered until tender.

🇲🇼Malawi

Nkhatini Ya Nkhuku

A comforting Malawian stew of chicken pieces, okra, tomatoes, onions, and groundnut flour, simmered until the okra thickens the sauce; often served with nsima.

🇲🇼Malawi

Nkwanya

Tender leaves from bean plants cooked as a simple green relish with tomatoes, onions, and a little groundnut flour; a mild, everyday ndiwo in Malawi.

🇲🇼Malawi

Nsima

Malawi's daily staple: a thick, stiff maize-flour porridge cooked in boiling water until it holds a smooth, firm mound, eaten with the right hand and used to scoop ndiwo relishes. UNESCO-recognised as part of Malawian intangible heritage.

🇲🇼Malawi

Ntapasya

A Malawian vegetable relish of local greens simmered with onion and groundnut.

🇲🇼Malawi

Nthochi

Malawian banana bread: ripe bananas mashed and mixed with flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and baking powder, baked in a rectangular tin, and cut into thick slices; a beloved teatime and market sweet.

🇿🇼Zimbabwe

Nyimo Beans

Nyimo

Bambara groundnuts, a hard round legume grown mostly by women on marginal soil, boiled for hours or roasted and salted.

🇲🇼Malawi

Pap (Maize Meal Porridge)

Pap

South Africa's staple food: a starchy porridge of maize meal (mielie-meal), served soft or stiff with meat, gravy, or chakalaka

🇲🇼Malawi

Phala

A thin Malawian maize or millet porridge eaten at breakfast and during lean seasons.

🇮🇳India

Roti (Chapati)

रोटी

An unleavened whole-wheat flatbread cooked on a dry griddle. It is the daily bread across North India, rolled thin and puffed over an open flame

🇷🇼Rwanda

Rwandan Grilled Tilapia

Whole tilapia from Lake Kivu, grilled over charcoal with onions, garlic, and spices; a centrepiece dish for 2-3 people, eaten with fingers; the smoky flavour from open-fire grilling defines the Rwandan version.

🇲🇼Malawi

Sadza

Isitshwala

White maize meal stirred into boiling water in two stages — a thin porridge first, then more meal beaten in — until it is stiff enough to be rolled into a ball by hand.

🇩🇯Djibouti

Sambusa

ሳምቡሳ

Crispy triangular fried pastries stuffed with spiced lentils, beans or beef. The Ethiopian-Eritrean cousin of the Indian samosa, beloved at fasting tables, breakfast spreads and Ramadan iftars.

🇬🇵Guadeloupe

Samosa

समोसा

A crisp South Asian pastry is folded around spiced potato, peas, onion, or meat, then fried and served with chutney

🇲🇼Malawi

Sanjika

Small Lake Malawi fish cooked with tomato and onion as a daily relish.

🇰🇪Kenya

South Sudanese Chapati

Chapati

Flatbread influenced by Indian and East African traditions; wheat flour dough rolled thin and cooked on a griddle; eaten with stews, used to wrap ful, or eaten with tea; common in urban areas; a versatile bread that complements South Sudanese dishes.

🇸🇸South Sudan

South Sudanese Mandazi

Mandazi

Fried sweet pastry topped with cinnamon sugar or honey; dough flavored with cinnamon and coconut milk; soft and fluffy inside, crispy outside; sold as street food; a popular snack across South Sudan; influenced by East African mandazi.

🇲🇼Malawi

Super Maheu

A thick, lightly fermented maize drink sold as a Malawian refreshment.

🇿🇲Zambia

Sweet Fermented Maize Drink

Thobwa

Traditional Zambian sweet fermented drink; made from maize meal; thick, sweet, and refreshing; popular in the eastern and northern provinces; served at markets and gatherings; similar to munkoyo but distinct; the thirst-quenching drink of Zambia's hot climate.

🇲🇼Malawi

Thelele

Malawian leafy greens prepared as a relish alongside nsima.