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Chibwabwa

Pumpkin leaves with groundnuts

From December to March, when pumpkin vines sprawl over every compound fence in Lusaka and the Copperbelt, chibwabwa is on the table almost daily as a relish for nshima. The tender leaves and shoots are stripped of their hairy outer fibres, cooked down until silky and finished with tomato, onion and freshly pounded groundnuts, which thicken the juices into a creamy, nutty sauce. The taste is green and mildly sweet, closer to young spinach than to pumpkin itself. Look for pumpkin leaves at African or South Asian grocers; spinach mixed with a little chard is a fair stand-in. Skipping the peeling is the mistake people make, and it leaves the stems stringy and prickly. Chef's tip: add the groundnut powder only at the end and simmer it gently, or it sinks and scorches.

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