Hey! Do you know how to prepare just ONE Zimbabwean dish? You don't know what to prepare for your grandmother when she comes to visit? Or your old-fashioned parents? Or your difficult mother-in-law? Don't worry because you are just at the right place. 

This is not only for the ladies trying to impress, but also for the men who value Zimbabwean food and likes preparing their own meals. Not only am I dishing out recipes for Zim-cuisine, I am giving you guys quick and easy recipes for meals from all over the world!

First things first, Zimbabwe’s national dish is sadza. Every woman in the country should be able to cook sadza and cook it to perfection. Sadza to the Zimbabweans is like rice to the Chinese, or pasta to Italians. In fact, sadza re masikati or “sadza of the afternoon” simply means lunch. Sadza re manheru or “sadza of the evening” means dinner. Sadza is made from cornmeal or maize, and eaten with relish. Relish can be any kind of vegetable stew, beef, chicken, cow foot (mazondo) and sometimes beans.

Here are two basic Sadza recipes:

Sadza

Ingredients

·         4 cups water

·         2½ cups white cornmeal (regular cornmeal may be used)

Procedure

1.     Put mealie-meal in pot. Add cold water to make a paste.

2.     Keep stirring until rakukwata (it's boiling). Cover pot, reduce heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

3.  After 15 minutes, gradually add more mealie-meal and as we say it in our vernacular, mona sadza (mix). Be sure to do it well. When its about to reach the consistency you want, cover it and let it simmer (kushinyira)

OR

1.     Bring 3 cups of the water to a boil in a large pot.

2.     Combine 1½ cups of the cornmeal with the remaining 1 cup water.

3.     Reduce heat to medium to low and add the cornmeal mixture to the boiling water, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Cook for about 5 minutes.

4.     Slowly adding the remaining 1 cup of cornmeal. When the mixture is very thick and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, transfer to a serving bowl or plate.

5.     Use a wooden spoon to shape the mixture into a round shape.

6.     You may use wet hands to help shape the sadza.

Serves 4 to 6.

click here  to watch a video tutorial on how to make sadza