Ingredients
Greens
- 800 gsweet potato leaves
- or 800 g spinach or chard
- water, for washing
- bicarbonate of soda, a pinch, optional
The pot
- 2onions, chopped
- 3tomatoes, chopped
- 3garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 tablespoonsoil
- 1stock cube
- salt and black pepper
Groundnut
- 150 ggroundnut flour
- or 4 tablespoons groundnut paste
- warm water, to loosen
To serve
- nshima, thick maize porridge
- dried or fresh fish
- chilli sauce
Directions
- Discard any nuts that are shrivelled or discoloured. Discard any that smell musty or taste bitter. Nshima is the thick Zambian maize porridge. Pick the leaves from their stems. Discard any thick or tough stalks. Wash them in several changes of cold water. Lift them out rather than pouring the water off.
- Stack the washed leaves together. Roll them up and slice them across. Chop the leaves fairly roughly. It keeps the greens a brighter colour. Heat the oil in a wide heavy pan. Add the chopped onions to the pan.
- Cook them for a good eight minutes. Add the crushed garlic to them. Cook it for a good two minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. Cook them down for about six minutes.
- Add the chopped leaves to the pan. They collapse down within a few minutes. Crumble in the stock cube as well. Season it with salt and black pepper. Add a splash of water if the pan is dry. Cooking them takes little time. Cover the pan and lower the heat. Let them cook for about ten minutes.
- Stir them through once or twice. They should be soft but still green. Take a ladle of liquid from the pan. Mix it into the flour until smooth. Adding it dry gives lumps that never disperse. Let it cook for another ten minutes. Stir it regularly so it does not catch. Oil rises to the surface as it does. The greens should be completely tender.
- Add water if it goes too thick. Taste it and adjust the salt now. It needs more than you might expect. Add chilli to it if you want heat. Serving it is done hot as a relish. Spoon it beside a mound of nshima.
- Serve fish alongside for a fuller meal. Put chilli sauce on the table. Pinch off nshima and scoop with it. It keeps two days refrigerated.
Technique
- Sweet potato leaves can be picked while the tubers grow underground, so one planting gives both greens and roots, which is genuinely valuable on a smallholder plot.
- Groundnut flour thickens the greens, enriches them with fat and adds protein, which is what turns a plain green into a proper relish; it is used the same way across the region.
- Groundnuts can carry aflatoxin, a mould toxin linked to liver damage and liver cancer that roasting does not destroy, so discard any that are shrivelled, discoloured, musty or bitter.
Substitutions
- Spinach or chard stand in for sweet potato leaves and cook in similar time.
- Groundnut paste can replace groundnut flour, loosened with warm liquid first.
Variations
- A pinch of bicarbonate is added by some cooks to keep the colour bright.
- Some households add dried fish to the pot with the greens.
- Similar groundnut-thickened greens are cooked right across southern Africa.
History
The leaves are harvested while the tubers grow underground, giving two crops from one planting on smallholder plots.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kalembula?
Kalembula is a salad & side from Zambia: sweet potato leaves stewed with tomato, onion and groundnut. The leaves are harvested while the tubers grow underground, giving two crops from one planting on smallholder plots.
How long does Kalembula take to make?
Kalembula takes 25 minutes of preparation and 35 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Kalembula?
Yes, within limits. Spinach or chard stand in for sweet potato leaves and cook in similar time. Groundnut paste can replace groundnut flour, loosened with warm liquid first.
What is the most important thing to get right in Kalembula?
Discard any nuts that are shrivelled or discoloured. Discard any that smell musty or taste bitter. Nshima is the thick Zambian maize porridge. Pick the leaves from their stems. Discard any thick or tough stalks. Wash them in several changes of cold water. Lift them out rather than pouring the water off.
