Mozambique – Ncima

by Y Shomwi

Ncima is a home made cuisine from Mozambique, rarely found in big restaurants or hotels. It is a cornmeal with meat soup on top, that is made almost in every home in the late mornings.

Corn being a major item in Ncima, it counts for about 70%+ as a cultivated crop within the country.

Most of rural households cultivate it in small scale level, near by home or in small farms owned by the family.

It is used in many traditional dishes within the country such as Ugali, porridge, Maize beans stew, baking processes, local brewery processes e.t.c.

Ncima will take us into a new look with corn to generate a cuisine taste, not only from Mozambique but also worldwide.

Preparation is likely to be simple if one has a cooking knowledge about meat. So, you are not an experienced person!, well this article is all for you. Let us dive in for our lovely sweet cuisine of Ncima.

Preparation and Cooking methods

Prepare the followings;

• 1/2 kg of corn flour
• 1/2 kg of beef
• 3 Tomatoes
• 2 bulb onions
• garlic
• curry powder
• pepper powder
• 4 carrots
• grinned groundnuts
• oil
• salt

Ncima preparation is easier if we start with meat, because it is the one that takes a little longer to prepare. Here are the steps;

• Cut into pieces, wash it and put in clean plate.
• Chop onions, carrots and tomatoes, put in another plate.
• Boil meat for 30 minutes, be sure it is easy to chew.
• If still it’s hard to chew add more water of about 3 cups and boil.
• Take a frying pan, start to fry the mix of onions, 2 teaspoons of garlic, 1 small teaspoon of curry powder and carrots for 1 minute, add tomatoes (chopped in smaller pieces).
• Add meat into the fried mix, keep fry for 3 minutes.

• Add salt and soup. (depending on the ratio of the people to be fed)
• Boil for 5-8 minutes.
• Add 4 teaspoons of grinned groundnuts into the mix. Stir it until well mixed with other ingredients.
• Boil for 3 minutes more and keep an eye on the food from burn.

Now, Ncima;

• Take 3 cups of corn and 1/2 liters of water.
• Boil them until all the water mix with corn to give a staple as seen in the picture.
• Take it from heat into a clean plate.
• Divide it with accordance of the number of people to be served.
• Pour on top with a taste, smooth and delicious meat soup over each plate.

Serve it while warm for a better taste.