Malewa

Step 1: Rinse 5 ½ oz dried smoked bamboo shoots, cover with plenty of cold water and soak for at least 6 hours or overnight, until the pieces bend instead of snapping. If using tinned shoots, simply drain and rinse them and skip to step 4.

Step 2: Drain the shoots, cover with fresh water and boil over a medium-high heat until a knife slides in with only slight resistance.

Step 3: Drain again and pull or slice any large pieces into thin strips about 5 cm long.

Step 4: Whisk 5 ½ oz ground roasted peanuts into 1 ¼ cups water in a pot until there are no lumps, then add the rest of 1 ¼ cups water. It will look like thin milk.

Step 5: Bring the groundnut mixture to a gentle simmer over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly, as it catches easily on the bottom. Simmer until it thickens and a film of oil starts to show on the top.

Step 6: Add 1 onion, 2 tomatoes and 1 tsp salt and simmer, stirring often, until the tomato has melted into the sauce.

Step 7: Stir in the bamboo shoots (and the smoked paprika if using tinned shoots) and simmer gently, partly covered, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and the shoots taste smoky all through. Loosen with a splash of water if it gets too thick.

Step 8: Taste for salt and serve hot with matoke or kalo.