Lipabi

Ingredients

Grain

• 500 gdried maize kernels
• or 500 g sorghum grain

To finish

• 100 gsugar
• or to taste
• a pinch of salt

Sometimes added

• a little ground cinnamon
• roasted groundnuts, ground in
• milk powder

To serve

• by the spoonful
• in a twist of paper
• packed for a journey

Directions

1. Heat browns the sugars and proteins. Coarse grains feel gritty and dry. Grind it further than seems necessary. It is very dry indeed to eat plain. Take small amounts and eat it slowly. Do not give large spoonfuls to small children. Pick over the dried maize carefully. Remove any stones or damaged kernels. Rinse it and dry it thoroughly. Wet grain steams rather than roasting.
2. Spread it out to dry if you rinse it. Heat a heavy dry pan over a medium heat. Add the maize in a single layer. Work in batches if the pan is small. Stir it constantly as it roasts. Do not stop stirring at any point.
3. Cover the pan partly if it spits. Do not cover it fully or it steams. Take them to a deep golden brown. Give them about fifteen minutes. Take it off while it still smells sweet.
4. Tip it out of the pan immediately. A hot pan keeps roasting it otherwise. Spread it on a tray to cool down. Let it cool completely before grinding. Warm grain clogs up a grinder. Cold grain grinds to a dry powder.
5. Put the cooled grain in a grinder. Work in small batches at a time. Grind it down to a fine powder. Sieve and regrind the coarse ones. Return any coarse pieces to the grinder. Repeat that until it is all fine. It takes considerably longer though.
6. Mix the sugar into the ground powder. Add a good pinch of salt with it. It is not enough to taste salty. Grind the sugar in if it is coarse. Granulated sugar stays gritty otherwise. Taste it and adjust the sugar. Roast groundnuts alongside the grain. Grind them in right along with it. It grows on nuts stored damp or warm.
7. Discard any that smell musty or taste bitter. Pack it into an airtight jar or tin. Keep it somewhere cool and dry. It clumps and eventually spoils if it gets damp. Spoon it out straight from the tin. It keeps a month in a sealed tin. Discard it if it clumps or smells musty.

Technique

• This is a dry sweet powder eaten straight rather than a porridge, and that dryness is what makes it a journey food: light for the energy it carries, needing no cooking or water, and keeping for weeks because roasting drives out nearly all the moisture.
• The grain must cool completely before grinding, since warm grain clogs a grinder, releases oil and goes pasty where cold grain grinds to a dry powder; and it goes from golden to black quickly in the pan, so take it off while it still smells sweet, because burnt grain gives a bitterness that cannot be removed.
• Dry powder can be inhaled if taken too fast, so eat it slowly in small amounts with something to drink alongside, and do not give large spoonfuls to small children.

Substitutions

• Sorghum grain works in place of maize and is equally traditional.
• Caster or icing sugar mixes in more smoothly than granulated, which stays gritty.

Variations

• Roasted groundnuts ground in alongside add protein and richness.
• The sweetness varies enormously, from barely sweet to very sweet indeed.
• Tsampa in Tibet and various West African powders solve the same portability problem.

History

Roasted maize or sorghum ground to a sweet powder, eaten by the spoonful as a snack and packed for journeys.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lipabi?

Lipabi is a snack from Lesotho: roasted maize ground with sugar, traveler’s provision. Roasted maize or sorghum ground to a sweet powder, eaten by the spoonful as a snack and packed for journeys.

How long does Lipabi take to make?

Lipabi takes 10 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 500 g. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Lipabi?

Yes, within limits. Sorghum grain works in place of maize and is equally traditional. Caster or icing sugar mixes in more smoothly than granulated, which stays gritty.

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

Heat browns the sugars and proteins. Coarse grains feel gritty and dry. Grind it further than seems necessary. It is very dry indeed to eat plain. Take small amounts and eat it slowly. Do not give large spoonfuls to small children. Pick over the dried maize carefully. Remove any stones or damaged kernels. Rinse it and dry it thoroughly. Wet grain steams rather than roasting.