Ingredients
Porridge
- 800 gpumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into 3 cm cubes
- 750 mlwater
- 1 tspsalt
- 250 gwhite maize meal
- 2 tbspsugar, to taste (optional)
- 30 gbutter (optional)
To serve
- cold emasi (thick sour milk) or fresh milk
- extra sugar at the table
Directions
- Put the pumpkin in a heavy pot with 500 ml of the water and the salt, cover and simmer 20–25 minutes until it is completely collapsing.
- Crush it against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon into a rough puree, leaving some lumps. A blender makes it slick and gluey and takes the dish somewhere else entirely.
- Slake the maize meal with the remaining 250 ml cold water into a smooth pourable slurry. Tipped in dry it lumps instantly and the lumps never disperse.
- Bring the pumpkin back to a bare simmer and pour in the slurry in a thin stream, stirring hard with a wooden spoon the whole time.
- Cook uncovered on low for 20–25 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes and scraping the base, adding hot water if it stiffens past a soft dropping consistency.
- It is ready when it no longer tastes chalky and a spoon dragged through the pot leaves a track that closes over slowly.
- Beat in the butter and sugar if you are using them, and serve hot in bowls with cold sour milk poured over the top.
Technique
- The pumpkin is the sweetener. Sugar is a modern addition and plenty of Swazi households use none at all, letting the squash and the sour milk do the work.
- Maize meal must be slaked in cold water first and stirred constantly for the first minute, or the pot seizes into lumps.
- Twenty minutes of cooking after the meal goes in is the minimum. Undercooked maize meal tastes raw and sits heavily.
- Sidvudvu is breakfast food and is meant to be soft and spoonable, quite unlike the stiff sishwala eaten later in the day.
Substitutions
- Butternut squash is the closest widely available substitute; it is sweeter, so cut any added sugar entirely.
Variations
- Made with sorghum meal instead of maize for a darker, nuttier porridge.
- Cooked stiffer and served as a side dish alongside a relish rather than as breakfast.
History
Pumpkin cooked down with maize meal into a sweet orange porridge, a harvest dish and a food for children.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sidvudvu?
Sidvudvu is a breakfast from Eswatini: pumpkin mashed into soft maize porridge. Pumpkin cooked down with maize meal into a sweet orange porridge, a harvest dish and a food for children.
How long does Sidvudvu take to make?
Sidvudvu takes 15 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Sidvudvu?
Yes, within limits. Butternut squash is the closest widely available substitute; it is sweeter, so cut any added sugar entirely.
What is the most important thing to get right in Sidvudvu?
Slake the maize meal with the remaining 250 ml cold water into a smooth pourable slurry. Tipped in dry it lumps instantly and the lumps never disperse.
