My Life in Malawi

Malawi is a wonderful place to have a garden. It is so exciting to plant food year-round and to have access to freshly grown food since that is the only kind of food you can buy in the village. In the four months that I’ve been living in my house, I have been working on a garden. I’ve planted tomatoes, onions, okra, beans, squash, and peppers. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the pleasure of tasting any of these yet. Four times in the past four months, I have had seedlings destroyed. First, chickens scratched up my plants with their stupid chicken claws when they were quite small. Later, goats ate the plants that survived the chicken attack. It happened again a couple days ago. I closed my door for an afternoon nap and when I came out two hours later, everything was gone. There were just stubs left where my tomatoes and beans had been. How disappointing!

Some days I am annoyed by everything here. I hate this tiny house and the pigeons that land bang! bang! bang! on my tin roof every morning; the gardener that waters too much no matter how many times I ask him not to; and, people asking me again if I have ever tried nsima (local cuisine). But then, I look up from my book to see the palm tree in my backyard highlighted against the brilliant cloudless sky, a granny waves to me excitedly with both hands and I learn to cook a flavorful dinner over a fire. I am again overtaken by the fact that I live in beautiful Malawi.

Since I have just finished reading Julia Child’s My Life in France, (and since I don’t have much else going on at the moment) I thought this month I would give you a taste of what it is like to cook in Malawi with the fresh foods available. This way, when you go for the last camping trips of the season, you can dazzle friends with this creation!

Calzones*

First, make a fire. There are two main ways people in the village cook. While at training in Dedza, my amayi would use three large stones or bricks and arrange them in a circle, close enough together that a pot can rest on them like the burner of a stove. Then you make a fire in the middle of the stove with wood. Wood is cheaper than charcoal and people can cut it themselves.

In my village, the more common way of cooking is on a small “grill” called a baola. The baola is about a foot and a half tall and cannot be bought in the village. I found mine while shopping in Limbe. It is metal on the outside and ceramic inside and has metal clasps that fold in to create a place to set the pot. We use charcoal bought from someone across the Mwanza River. Since charcoal is made from wood also, and harvesting wood is quickly depleting the landscape of Malawi, some people have been experimenting with other forms of fuel suck as cornhusk charcoal or paper charcoal. These are difficult to make and tend to not burn as hot as charcoal, which means cooking takes much longer.

How to go about lighting the fire varies from person to person. Some people use plastic bags. They light the plastic bag on fire and let it drip onto the charcoal to get the fire started. Others douse the charcoal in paraffin before lighting it. One of my good friends combines these two methods to ensure that her fire starts right away. I prefer a slightly more environmentally friendly method. I wad up a piece of paper or cardboard and put it in the middle of the baola. Next, I look for a couple handfuls of twigs, leaves and old reeds and spread them out making kind of a star shape around the paper. Then I place several small pieces of charcoal on top of this. I light the paper and usually I don’t have to do anything else. If the fire doesn’t spread to the charcoal, some fanning or blowing action is required.

Making Cheese

Once the fire is going, I like to start making the cheese for the calzones first since it takes the longest. I use one large sachet of milk (about two cups). Put it in a pan and set it over the fire until it starts to boil, stirring it to make sure that it doesn’t burn. Once it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and let it cool for five minutes. (I always make sure I cover the pot since we are cooking on the ground and I don’t want my curious pup to lick it all up.) Next, add vinegar until the milk curdles (about two to four tablespoons). It should be a solid mass with a yellow liquid. Let this sit for 30 minutes. Finally, strain the cheese through a clean cloth. It is now similar to ricotta cheese. To this mixture, I add salt, dried basil, and sautéed onions and garlic.

Preparing the Dough

I like to have the dough ready next. Combine 2 cups flour (I prefer to use one cup white and one cup wheat flour), 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the center of these dry ingredients. Pour ¼ cup oil and 2/3 cup milk into the well and mix all ingredients together. Once mixed together, knead the dough for about ten minutes.

Tomato Sauce

If you like tomatoes in your calzone, this is the time to prepare a tomato sauce. Check to make sure the fire is still hot. Heat a skillet (if you have one… or if like me, you don’t, a pot will work) with a little oil. Add garlic and onions and sauté until just browned. Add four diced tomatoes. You can also add tomato paste, if available. Season with salt, pepper and any other available Italian spices.

Putting it all together

Using the prepared dough, portion into three balls. Roll the first dough ball into a circle about six inches wide and a half-inch thick. Spread a third of the cheese on one half of the circle. Next, pour a third of the tomato sauce on top of the cheese. Close the calzone by folding the dough over to make a semi-circle and pinch the dough closed to seal. Place the calzone into a hot, slightly oiled pan. Cook until browned on both sides. Repeat with remaining calzones.

Mix it up!

One of my friends isn’t a fan of tomatoes. Luckily, he brought some delicious pre-cooked bacon (sent in a care package from his mother, hint hint!) when he came to visit. I omitted the tomato sauce and added the bacon and had one of the best meals yet!

*Recipe adapted from Peace Corps Malawi Guide to Village Cuisine.