← Back to globe
Groundnut Stew · Greens

Ifisashi

Ifisashi — street food from Ndola, Zambia
Photo: LittleT889 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

The groundnuts are pounded raw, not roasted first, which is what gives ifisashi its smooth, milky-green texture rather than a nutty crunch.

Pumpkin leaves, rape or spinach are simmered down with pounded raw groundnuts into a thick, creamy green stew, seasoned simply with onion and salt. It's ladled over nshima at nsima places around Ndola's Masala Market and beyond.

Why it's made this way: Ifisashi is one of the most widely cooked relishes across Zambia's provinces, and in copper-mining Copperbelt towns like Ndola — built up by workers from many regions — it became a shared, everyday comfort dish found in nearly every home and cheap eatery.
Read it in context →

More from Zambia

🍶 Munkoyo Vitumbuwa Ifinkubala (dried caterpillars) 🌱 Chikanda Kapenta Zambezi Bream
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.