Ingredients
Porridge
- 1lerotse melon, about 2 kg
- 300 gsorghum meal
- 250 mlwater
- ½ tspsalt
- sugar, only if needed
To serve
- fresh or soured milk
Directions
- Halve the melon and scoop out the seeds. Keep them: dried and roasted, lerotse seeds are eaten on their own and nothing is wasted from the fruit.
- Peel the melon and cut the flesh into rough chunks of about 4 cm.
- Put the flesh in a heavy pot with the water, cover, and cook over a medium heat for 30 to 40 minutes until it collapses entirely, stirring occasionally so the bottom does not catch.
- Mash the cooked melon to a coarse purée and leave it wet. The melon supplies nearly all the liquid this porridge gets, so resist the urge to drive off the moisture.
- Sprinkle in the sorghum meal a handful at a time, stirring thoroughly after each addition until it is fully absorbed before the next goes in. Tipping it all in at once gives lumps that never break down.
- Add the salt, cover, and cook on the lowest heat for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes and scraping the base of the pot.
- Taste before adding any sugar. A properly ripe lerotse is sweet enough on its own, and sugar is a correction for a bland melon rather than an ingredient.
- Serve hot in bowls, orange and thick, with milk poured over.
Technique
- Cook the melon down first and separately. Adding raw melon and meal together gives a watery porridge that never concentrates.
- The colour should be a clear orange. Grey means the melon was underripe or the meal went in too early.
- Lerotse grows in the same fields as the sorghum and the two are cooked together at harvest, which is how the dish came about.
Substitutions
- Butternut squash or pumpkin, the nearest widely available substitute, though sweeter and less watery than lerotse.
- Maize meal in place of sorghum, cooking for about 25 minutes instead of 40.
Variations
- With madila, the Setswana soured milk, stirred through at the table.
- Made with soured ting batter, for a sweet-and-sour version.
- Cooked much stiffer and eaten with the fingers rather than a spoon.
History
The lerotse, a Kalahari melon relative, is grown in the same fields as sorghum and cooked into the porridge at harvest.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bogobe jwa lerotse?
Bogobe jwa lerotse is a main from Botswana: sorghum porridge cooked with lerotse melon until sweet and orange. The lerotse, a Kalahari melon relative, is grown in the same fields as sorghum and cooked into the porridge at harvest.
How long does Bogobe jwa lerotse take to make?
Bogobe jwa lerotse takes 20 min of preparation and 1 hr 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Bogobe jwa lerotse?
Yes, within limits. Butternut squash or pumpkin, the nearest widely available substitute, though sweeter and less watery than lerotse. Maize meal in place of sorghum, cooking for about 25 minutes instead of 40.
What is the most important thing to get right in Bogobe jwa lerotse?
Sprinkle in the sorghum meal a handful at a time, stirring thoroughly after each addition until it is fully absorbed before the next goes in. Tipping it all in at once gives lumps that never break down.
