Vegetable Relish · Bitter-Sweet
Impwa (Garden Egg) Relish
🍆
Photo coming soon
Cooks traditionally throw away the first boiling water specifically to cut the eggplant's natural bitterness before it's stewed.
Small bitter African eggplants called impwa are boiled — often with the first water discarded to tame the bitterness — then simmered with tomato and onion into a soft, tangy relish eaten over nshima. Around Livingstone it's a common side ordered alongside grilled bream or chicken.
Why it's made this way: Impwa grows easily in home gardens across Southern Province and is one of the everyday relishes Tonga households rely on between meat meals, prized for its slightly bitter, distinctive flavour.
More from Zambia
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.