The cuisine of
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
has deeply been influenced by the
Portuguese, who introduced new crops, flavorings, and cooking methods. The staple food for many Mozambicans is ''
xima'' (chi-mah), a thick porridge made from
maize/corn flour.
Cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...
and rice are also eaten as staple carbohydrates. All of these are served with sauces of vegetables, meat, beans or fish.
Other typical ingredients include
cashew
Cashew is the common name of a tropical evergreen tree ''Anacardium occidentale'', in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South America and is the source of the cashew nut and the cashew apple, an accessory fruit. The tree can grow as t ...
nuts, onions,
bay leaves
The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used as a herb in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. The flavour that a bay leaf ...
, garlic,
coriander
Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae.
Most people perceive the ...
,
paprika
Paprika is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers, traditionally ''capsicum annuum''. It can have varying levels of Pungency, heat, but the peppers used for hot paprika tend to be milder and have thinner flesh than those used to produce ...
, pepper, red pepper, sugar cane, corn, millet,
sorghum
''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...
and potatoes.
One of the most well-known Mozambican dishes is known as
Matapa, a stew dish made of grounded up cassava leaves mixed with
crustaceans
Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of Arthropod, arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquat ...
like shrimp or crab, along with onion and garlic.
Gallery
Gemüse.JPG, Tomatoes and peppers
More Liponda.jpg, Liponda
Piles of tiny dried fish.JPG, Small dried fish
Crayfish heads.jpg, Crayfish
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...
Ngumbi.jpg, Ngumbi
See also
*
African cuisine
*
East African cuisine
References
External links
Food in Mozambique
{{cuisine
*
East African cuisine