9 benefits of Morning Workouts

My Perfect Meal (Revised)

When I started planning this meal, I was excited by the prospect of cooking and taking a break from the Cafeteria. I know how to cook and I love cooking but I didn’t know what I could define as a perfect meal. I have had many great meals and memorable meals before, but I have never really thought of what I can describe as a “perfect meal.” After thinking deeper, I decided to make a meal that I would define as perfect for me, at this particular time and place in my life. I really have really missed mother’s cooking and Zambian food in general, so I decided to prepare a Zambian meal-using mother’s cooking methods and ingredients I could easily find here in the United States.Having grown up and being accustomed to the habit of eating meals at the table with friends and family members, I decided that I would eat this meal at a table, with friends.

I decided that my meal would definitely have Nshima, beef, fresh fish and mushrooms. I decided that in preparing the meal, i would try to use as many organic ingredients as I could find. Mother uses a lot of organic ingredients in preparing her meals because organic ingredients are cheap and we have a vegetable garden were we grow our own vegetables. By using organic ingredients I was confident that my meal would turn out perfect and taste just like the food back home. The other reason why I was determined to use organic ingredients is because I really feel compelled to take do my part in supporting any movements or actions that will help promote healthier foods in the world.

Trying to find organic ingredients that I could use to create my perfect meal was difficult and costly. It made me realized three things. 1) Shopping for organic requires a lot of time and patience. I had to take time scanning through isles and food sections and reading the labels carefully looking for “Organic” labels, which wasn’t easy. 2) Organic really is expensive. I planned my budget for $35 maximum but I ended up spending $79.50. 3) It needs determination and dedication. Without it, I would have given up and decided to make a meal with all ingredients inorganic. I did buy a few inorganic ingredients because I didn’t have enough time to search in other stores. Inorganic ingredients were beef; strawberries, grapes and mangoes, but at least they were “farm grown”.

My meal was easy to prepare, nothing extravagant; I only had one main dish, some vegetables, fruit juice and dessert. I cooked Nshima, the Zambian staple food made with water and corn flour; this isn’t a complete meal on its own, it is usually served with different meats and sauces or stews. I had beef stew, fried fish and vegetables to go with it. The meal is best eaten very hot, so I had to multi task like my mother usually does, managing three dishes at a once. First, I started boiling the beef, then I cut up the “Wild caught” Canadian whitefish into pieces, and then I salted the pieces and put them in the oven to dry. I then started with the NShima. First, I mixed the corn flour with warm water then boiled it for fifteen minutes until it became a thick porridge, this gave me enough time to fry the fish and finish working on the beef stew. The fish was a disaster, instead of drying up; it had softened and was breaking apart which made it difficult to fry. I wondered whether I had used the wrong temperature or if it was the kind of fish that had caused this.

I fried the beef until it was golden brown, then I added spring onions, tomatoes, green paper, green beans, and carrots and diced potatoes, no spices. I let the mixture cook until the potatoes were soft enough. The result was a colorful mouth-watering beef stew with a rich warm aroma. I used the remaining green beans, spring onions, green paper and tomatoes to make a stew to go with the fried fish. By the time I had finished making the stews, the corn porridge had become a really smooth bubbly porridge (cooked), I added more corn flour and kept stirring with a cooking stick until it the porridge became stiff and dough-like. The fragrance and texture told me that it was ready. I let it simmer at a very low heat whilst I quickly chopped and stewed the cabbage.

I used a very simple method to cook the mushrooms. I just boiled them in a pot with salt and cooking oil. I didn’t add any other ingredients because that’s how mother cooks them, this way the original taste and aroma is retained without being masked by ingredients such as onions and spices. I was a bit skeptical of the white mushrooms I had bought, because they were a different kind of mushroom. I had never seen them in Zambia before, but I still cooked them the way my mother always cooks her mushrooms and surprisingly, they still tasted delicious although the taste was slightly different.

Dessert was a mixture of diced fruits dipped in yogurt. This salad consisted diced mangoes, strawberries, grapes and apples. I cubed all the fruits placed them in a large bowl, poured in a lot of yogurt and mixed everything. The whole cooking process was so much fun because I wasn’t following some difficult recipes from a cookbook. I was constructing a simple meal that I have eaten and cooked before.

I invited 2 friends from Botswana, 3 friends form Zimbabwe and 2 Kenyans. Nshima is a staple food for all the four countries and there are so many similarities in the cuisines. These were the perfect guests because like me, they are far away from home and struggling to adjust to the food in the cafeteria. I knew that this meal would mean so much to them. Just like my family dinners, there was a lot of talk and laughter at the tables accompanied by music.

Compared to what I have been eating and the way I have been eating lately, this meal was great! Just perfect. For once I could eat with a free mind, knowing what I was really eating because I had cooked it myself and I knew the kind of ingredients in the meal. The food tasted really good just as I had hoped for, even the inorganic beef. The cost of the meal didn’t really bother me. I had achieved the result I was aiming for, i was satisfied, and that is what really mattered.