Bogobe

Ingredients

Porridge

• 300 gsorghum meal
• 1.5 litreswater
• 1 tspsalt

For ting, the soured version

• 300 gsorghum meal
• 500 mlwarm water
• an extra 250 ml water for cooking

Directions

1. Whisk the sorghum meal into 500 ml of the cold water until completely smooth. Meal tipped straight into hot water seizes into lumps on contact, and no amount of stirring afterwards will break them down.
2. Bring the remaining litre of water to a rolling boil with the salt in a heavy pot.
3. Pour the slurry into the boiling water in a steady stream, stirring hard the whole time, and keep stirring until it thickens and begins to bubble sluggishly.
4. Turn the heat as low as it will go, cover, and cook for 40 to 50 minutes, lifting the lid to stir every 10 minutes with a long wooden spoon. Sorghum needs roughly twice as long as maize meal, and rushing it leaves a raw, chalky taste.
5. It is done when the porridge pulls cleanly away from the sides of the pot as you stir and no longer smells of raw grain.
6. To make ting instead, mix the meal with the warm water to a thick batter, cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it at room temperature for 2 days, until it smells sharply sour. Then cook it exactly as above, adding the extra 250 ml of water because the soured batter thickens faster.
7. Serve hot, with seswaa or morogo for a main meal, or thinned with milk and sweetened for breakfast.

Technique

• Cold slurry first, always. This is the one rule that separates smooth bogobe from lumpy bogobe.
• Sorghum tolerates the low and unreliable rainfall of eastern Botswana far better than maize, which is why it was the staple long before maize arrived.
• Ting should smell distinctly sour before cooking. If it does not, give it another day.

Substitutions

• Maize meal, which cooks in half the time and gives a milder, sweeter porridge.
• A blend of two parts sorghum to one part maize meal, common in town kitchens.

Variations

• Bogobe jwa ting, made with the soured batter and eaten with madila.
• Bogobe jwa lerotse, cooked with melon.
• Thinned right down with soured milk and drunk rather than eaten.

History

Sorghum porridge, the Setswana staple long before maize; sorghum tolerates the low, unreliable rainfall of eastern Botswana.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bogobe?

Bogobe is a main from Botswana: sorghum porridge, often soured as ting, eaten morning and night. Sorghum porridge, the Setswana staple long before maize; sorghum tolerates the low, unreliable rainfall of eastern Botswana.

How long does Bogobe take to make?

Bogobe takes 5 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Bogobe?

Yes, within limits. Maize meal, which cooks in half the time and gives a milder, sweeter porridge. A blend of two parts sorghum to one part maize meal, common in town kitchens.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bogobe?

Pour the slurry into the boiling water in a steady stream, stirring hard the whole time, and keep stirring until it thickens and begins to bubble sluggishly.