Happy Botswana Day! September 30, 1966 was the day in history when Botswana gained its independence from Great Britain. In honor of this special day, I decided to focus my weekend baking and cooking adventure on this special celebration. The dishes you see in the photo are the national dishes of Botswana and are eaten today and any other day of celebration. Thank you, Botswana, for enriching other cultures with your story and your cuisine.

So, how did I really arrive at Botswana? As an educator, I’m trained to make connections between ideas and concepts, big and small. Thus, in deciding on my next adventure, I wanted to make it meaningful and not a spin the globe and touch a country kind of decision (although, that would be OK, too). In my search, I stumbled on a site discussing national egg day… well, reading about national egg day gave me my “aha” moment. It was then that I realized I could focus some of my weekends on national independence days and, of course, why not? I could very well touch on countries I wouldn’t otherwise. And to be honest… I did. There are countries with independence days every week; however, I only wanted to focus on one that had it on the day of my baking (Sunday) or the day I blogged about it (Monday). So, Botswana it was… or is.

And why not a touch of Botswana history, too? Botswana is in the southern part of Africa, just north of South Africa and between Namibia and Zimbabwe. In looking at a map, you quickly notice that Botswana is a landlocked country thus providing some reasoning for its traditional cuisine. At one time, Botswana was considered one of the poorest countries in Africa; it has since encountered an economic boom thanks in large part to raising livestock and tourism (yes, African Safaris). This bit of history and information is important in understanding and appreciating the cuisine.

The national cuisine of Botswana reflects its availability. Wheat is not a grain commonly grown in Botswana like maize (corn) due to deserts and unfavorable agricultural conditions, although wheat found in Botswana is grown in South Africa and is imported. So, Botswana is not as known for its bread baking as it is slow-cooked meats and porridge (polenta, etc.).

The national cuisine of Botswana is based on simple flavors directly from the whole foods themselves… what a concept! Think about it; if we cook with quality whole ingredients, why should we drown them (cover them up) in additional flavorings? This, friends, is my biggest takeaway from this baking/cooking adventure. I’ll explain more in talking about the dishes and in my final comments.

Since this is primarily a baking adventure, I’ll focus on the bread; however, I must talk about the accompanying cuisine as I think those dishes are more reflective of the people and culture.

My Diphaphata Baking Journey… Dipha… what? It is properly pronounced ‘dee-pah-PAH-tah’ and is a flatbread made mostly of flour and water or milk. It is commonly eaten for breakfast with butter and jam or at a meal with stew. Some recipes call for yeast while others use baking powder instead. With two different types of recipes, I decided to make half recipes of both. The yeast recipe is from A Hungry African Original and the baking powder version came from an online version of the book “Extending the Table: Recipes and Stories from Argentina to Zambia”.

Final comments on the Diphaphata… While both versions look very much alike (English muffin, perhaps?), the raw dough felt differently, and the baked flatbread tasted differently. The yeast dough was stretchy and rolled like pizza dough (elastic that required some rest to conform to its new shape before additional rolling) while the baking powder version felt like the American biscuit (no stretch). Both were very dense since neither one required much rising time. The yeast was apparent in the yeast bread and tasted very much like a simple yeast bread while the baking powder version had a crumb, like a biscuit (not a British cookie 😊) and tasted like a biscuit, but denser. I had difficulty ensuring a cooked center since the browned outside was misleading. Regardless of the version, they were made from simple ingredients and tasted simple. They were good for sopping up liquid from the accompanying dishes and/or split topped with butter.

The accompanying dishes… The accompanying dishes were quite interesting as the flavors were simple allowing focus on the main ingredient in each dish.

Seswaa (click on the name for the recipe) is slow-cooked meat, beef mostly (but also lamb and goat), cooked in water, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. That’s it! I selected a quality grass-fed beef short rib since a bone-in meat is the key to making this dish authentic, though any type of chuck will work. Cooking on the bones allows for additional flavoring and provides an automatic timer for doneness (when the meat falls off the bones, the meat is done… that simple).

Phalethe (Pap) (click on the name for the recipe) is like the Italian polenta, a cooked maize (corn) dish, aka porridge in other countries. Again, a very simple dish usually made with water and salt. In thinking of Botswana, I really did not want to be wasteful with this meal and wanted to use and consume all that I could, so I chose to replace the water with the broth (the cooking liquid from the Seswaa). Wow! You want to talk about flavor… I simply boiled 2 cups of the meat cooking liquid and added a cup of cornmeal (I was unable to find white cornmeal, so I used yellow instead). That’s it!

Morogo (click on the name for the recipe) is basically a term for leafy greens. The primary leafy green eaten in Botswana is Amaranth (aka pigweed), but that is not easily located in the US, so spinach is an appropriate substitute. I sautéed spinach and stems, rainbow chard with stems, and an onion, salt, and pepper in a little neutral oil. That’s it! Again, the goal of this dish was simplicity and not to be wasteful.

Final comments on the accompanying dishes… As my husband and I were eating this meal, we talked primarily about its simplicity and how quality, real, whole foods don’t need all the extra ingredients we (Americans) tend to add. We were able to focus our palette on the true flavor of the meat, cornmeal, and greens. We could taste each ingredient and appreciated them for what they were. As I’ve said before, we tend to eat clean, but I use herbs and spices in most of our dishes. This experience reminds me that food is good as is; the key is quality.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment, like, or consider following my blog as I continue to move through the world and learn more about cuisine and culture. Check back this Friday, preview day, for a peek into my next adventure!