Motswana recipe
How to make Bogobe jwa lerotse
All of Botswana; the Kalanga call it tophi
Sorghum porridge cooked with lerotse, a local yellow cooking melon, and often sour milk. It is soft, slightly sweet and sour, and is a traditional wedding dish, when big pots of it are served alongside the meat.
Ingredients
- 500 g peeled, seeded yellow cooking melon or firm pumpkin, cubed
- 1 litre water
- 200 g sorghum meal (or fine maize meal)
- 250 ml sour milk (maas) or buttermilk
- A pinch of salt
Method
- Put the melon in a pot with the water and simmer for about 20 minutes until very soft, then mash it into the water.
- Sprinkle in the sorghum meal a little at a time, stirring hard to prevent lumps.
- Cover and cook on low heat for about 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until thick and cooked through.
- Stir in the sour milk and salt and cook for a few more minutes.
- Serve warm, on its own or with seswaa.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
The melon is usually prepared ahead with sour milk and stored until it is needed.
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