Kavango peoples

Oshifima

also Oshithima

Pearl millet porridge cooked stiff, the staple of the Ovambo north where mahangu grows on sand that supports little else.

Serves 6 · 35 minutes

Oshifima wa Mahangu

also Pearl millet porridge, Oshithima

Pearl millet flour beaten into a stiff white porridge, the staple of Namibia's north and the food that makes the Ovambo agricultural year make sense.

Serves 6 · 30 minutes

Potjiekos

Meat and vegetables layered in a three-legged cast-iron pot and cooked over coals for hours without stirring. As much a social occasion as a recipe.

Serves 8 · 4 hours

Kapana

Thin strips of beef grilled fast over open fires at Katutura's market in Windhoek, dipped in chilli spice and eaten straight off the grill standing up.

Serves 6 · 20 minutes

Oshiwambo Chicken

Free-range chicken cooked with spinach and tomato in the northern style, served with oshifima at weddings and homecomings.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Biltong

Beef or game cured with vinegar, salt and coriander and air-dried, cut with the grain rather than against it. Namibia's game farms make some of the best there is.

Serves Makes 500g · 4 to 6 days

Omagungu

also Mopane worms, Omangungu

Mopane caterpillars dried and then fried or stewed, a seasonal delicacy of northern Namibia sold by the bucket in Oshakati market.

Serves 4 · 50 minutes

Oshikundu

Pearl millet and sorghum fermented for a day into a thick sour drink, brewed by women in the north and drunk by everyone from children upward.

Serves Makes 3 litres · 1 day

Funge

Cassava or maize flour beaten into a stiff paste, eaten with the fingers under every Angolan stew. Funge de bombó is the cassava version and funge de milho the maize.

Serves 6 · 25 minutes

Pirão com Peixe

also Cassava porridge with fish

Cassava flour whisked into fish broth to a smooth porridge and served with the fish itself, the Angolan coastal lunch.

Serves 6 · 50 minutes

Muamba de Galinha

Chicken cooked in palm oil with okra and pumpkin, Angola's national dish. Muamba paste is the pulp of the palm nut, and it gives the stew its deep orange colour.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Feijão de Óleo de Palma

also Palm oil beans, Feijão de dendém

Beans stewed in palm oil with onion and smoked fish, eaten with funge across Angola and among the country's most reliably good cheap meals.

Serves 6 · 2 hours, plus soaking

Kitaba

Roasted groundnuts pounded to a paste with chilli and salt, spread on bread or eaten with cassava. Sold in twists of paper on the street in Luanda.

Serves Makes 1 jar · 40 minutes

Calulu de Peixe

Dried and fresh fish layered with okra, aubergine and sweet potato leaves in palm oil, made for celebrations and shared with São Tomé.

Serves 8 · 1 hour 30 minutes, plus soaking

Caldeirada de Cabrito

also Goat stew, Easter goat

Goat stewed with potato, tomato and wine, the Angolan Easter dish and the fixture of any large family gathering in Luanda.

Serves 8 · 2 hours 15 minutes

Cocada Amarela

also Yellow coconut pudding

Coconut cooked in cinnamon syrup and thickened with egg yolks into a rich yellow pudding, the Angolan celebration sweet and a direct Portuguese inheritance.

Serves 8 · 50 minutes

Mufete

Grilled fish with beans in palm oil, boiled cassava and fried plantain, eaten at the beach at Mussulo and Cabo Ledo on Sundays. Assembled on one plate and shared.

Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes

Gindungo

also Angolan chilli sauce, Jindungo

Chillies pounded with garlic, onion and palm oil into a rough paste, kept on every Angolan table and stirred into everything.

Serves Makes about 300ml · 20 minutes

Kissangua

Maize flour fermented into a lightly sour, faintly alcoholic drink, brewed at home and drunk at ceremonies in the interior provinces.

Serves Makes 3 litres · 2 days