Kaonde

Nshima

Maize meal cooked stiff and served in smooth rounds with relish. Zambians eat it twice a day and a meal without it is not counted as one.

Serves 6 · 30 minutes

Delele

also Okra relish, Slippery relish

Okra cooked with bicarbonate of soda until deliberately slippery, a Zambian relish that people either love or refuse outright.

Serves 6 · 30 minutes

Ifisashi

Greens cooked in groundnut paste, served with nshima. Meatless, cheap and eaten across the country, and the dish Zambians most often name as their own.

Serves 6 · 40 minutes

Vitumbuwa

Rice or maize flour fritters, fried and sold at markets and roadsides with tea, eaten at breakfast and by children on the way home.

Serves Makes 20 · 2 hours

Chikanda

also African polony, Wild orchid cake

Wild orchid tubers pounded with groundnut and chilli and set into a firm pink cake, sliced and sold at Zambian markets. Sought after enough that the orchids are now threatened.

Serves 8 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Village Chicken with Nshima

Free-range chicken stewed slowly with onion and tomato, cooked when guests arrive. Village chicken takes far longer than the frozen kind and is worth every minute.

Serves 6 · 2 hours

Kapenta

Tiny dried lake sardines fried with tomato and onion, from Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kariba. Cheap protein, eaten with nshima across the country.

Serves 6 · 35 minutes

Munkoyo

Maize porridge fermented with the root of the munkoyo shrub into a sweet-sour drink, made in villages and sold in bottles in Lusaka.

Serves Makes 3 litres · 1 to 2 days

Fufu

Cassava and maize flour beaten into a firm dough, the daily food of most of the Congo. Rolled in the fingers, dented with the thumb, and used to scoop.

Serves 6 · 30 minutes

Madesu

also Congolese beans, Haricots

Red beans stewed with onion, tomato and palm oil until thick, the cheapest and most eaten dish in Kinshasa. Served with fufu or rice and a spoon of chilli.

Serves 6 · 2 hours, plus overnight soaking

Poulet à la Moambé

also Moambe chicken, Nsusu na mwambe

Chicken cooked in palm nut pulp with chilli and garlic, the national dish of both Congos. The palm oil rising orange to the surface is the sign it is ready.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Ntaba

also Grilled goat, Chèvre braisée

Goat marinated in mustard, garlic and lemon then grilled slowly over charcoal, the Kinshasa nganda dish, eaten late with plantain and beer.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 4 hours marinating

Mikate

also Beignets

Fried dough balls sold from basins by women at every Kinshasa junction, eaten hot at breakfast or as a snack with sweet coffee.

Serves Makes 24 · 2 hours 15 minutes

Makemba

also Grilled plantain, Banane braisée

Plantain grilled over charcoal until blistered and served with a fierce pili-pili, sold outside every Kinshasa bar and bus stop.

Serves 4 · 25 minutes

Liboke ya Mbisi

Fish steamed in a banana leaf parcel with onion, chilli and lime, the Congo river's signature method. Opened at the table so the steam and smell arrive together.

Serves 4 · 1 hour

Mbika

also Egusi in leaves, Pumpkin seed parcels

Ground melon seed mixed with fish or meat, wrapped in leaves and steamed until it sets into a savoury cake. A Congolese celebration dish and a market food.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Pondu

also Saka saka

Pounded cassava leaves cooked long with palm oil, smoked fish and aubergine. Eaten across the Congo basin and cooked for hours, since cassava leaves demand it.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 45 minutes

Sombe ya Kivu

also Kivu cassava leaves, Sombe

Cassava leaves pounded and cooked long with palm oil and smoked fish, the daily dish of the Kivu hills. Bitter, dark and cooked until it no longer is.

Serves 6 · 2 hours

Malafu ya Ngasi

also Palm wine

Palm wine tapped from the oil palm and drunk the same day, sweet in the morning and sharp by evening. Poured for the ancestors before anyone else drinks.

Serves Varies · Tapped daily

Lotoko

also Congolese maize spirit

Distilled maize or cassava spirit, made in the villages and drunk everywhere. Clear, strong and entirely unregulated — this is a description of a tradition rather than a recommendation.

Serves Varies · 5 to 7 days fermenting, plus distilling