Entry date : December 24, 2003

A modest effort so far, consisting of a single recipe, though that will soon change. Dorinda Hafner, in her book "A Taste of Africa", describes a pleasant dish made by the Shona people of Zimbabwe called "Nhopi Dovi", or "pumpkin peanut sauce" in English. The making of this dish, which is eaten on its own, begins with the boiling of something called a "mashamba", described as a green fleshed pumpkin bearing "an uncanny resemblance to a melon". Ms.Hafner suggests butternut squash as a substitute for the probably unavailable mashamba. She instructs the reader to boil the mashamba (or the squash) in a modest amount of water until thoroughly cooked and very soft, mashing it with half of its volume in peanut butter and then seasoning it with salt or sugar, as the reader's preferences run. This dish can be served hot or cold.

As usual, I took certain liberties with the dish in the name of creativity, when I worked on it yesterday. Instead of boiling it, I wrapped my squash (which felt like it weighed about 2 pounds) in foil, and baked it in a 450 degree farenheit oven until soft - about one hour. In lieu of an oven, one could, perhaps, bury the squash in the hot ashes of a fire, and place coals on top to keep the squash baking. Opening the foil in a metal bowl, in order to catch any juice which might run out (there was little to catch), I scooped the flesh out of the skin (which was now very soft). I places it a pan in which I had enough corn oil to liberally coat the bottom of the skillet (4-5 tablespoons?), a sprinkling of red pepper flakes (1 1/2 teaspoons?), and a single crushed, coarsely chopped clove of garlic, all of which I heated (after scooping the squash out) until I could hear the garlic sizzle, quickly adding the squash spoonful by spoonful, so that enough water would be released to keep the garlic from browning, but not so quickly that the squash ended up boiling. As the squash was added, I crushed it into the pan with the wooden spoon I was stirring all of this with.

Even with prolonged baking, the flesh of the pumpkin resisted mashing a little, and Ms.Hafner had spoken of creating a creamy sauce. This is why the second cooking, in oil was necessary, and while the results in mid-cooking might have aroused the skepticism of an observer (a flaky texture being seen in the midst of cooking), creaminess was what would be achieved by the end of cooking. Having added all of the squash, I then added a good amount of cumin (maybe about a tablespoon or so), and a light sprinkling of cinnamon (a teaspoon?). The cinnamon served to bring out the flavor of the squash, and the pepper, garlic and cumin would enhance the flavor of the peanut butter which I knew would be coming. I continued cooking over a low fire, occasionally mashing the squash some more, until the squash was very soft and its structure had broken down.

This took about ten minutes. I like texture in my food, so I used a chunky peanut butter instead of a smooth one, which would probably be a better choice if you wanted creamy results. I added about half as much peanut butter (by volume) as there was squash in the pan, after cooking, stirring the peanut butter into the squash until completely blended. I then added both salt (about 2 1/2 tbsp) and sugar (about 1/4 cup), heating all of this until the salt and sugar dissolved.

The results were pleasing, albeit extremely rich, which might be good news for a hungry camper - it took the edge right off of the hunger of those sampling it, who didn't find it either unduly salty or sweet, despite the impression that those large quantities might have left. It seems like something that might make a good side dish at a meal.

Click here to go to the Café homepage.