Boiled Nyimo

We are at the tail end of zhizha (rain season) and I have really enjoyed all the food. I have enjoyed watching my son experience this season this first time. His favourite thing has been nyimo, which sounds like neemo when he asks for them. It is interesting looking at Zimbabwe in my son’s eyes, I discover something new every day.

Nyimo or Bambara nuts just like peanuts are grown by women in most families in Zimbabwe while men oversee the maize crop. Whenever I visit(ed) my grandparents, it was my grandmothers on both sides who would give us some peanuts or nyimo. On one hand I think it’s empowering for the women to have their own fields and on the other I feel like it would limit what the women can do. In comparison the fields for nyimo and peanuts are usually much smaller than the maize fields. While maize is a staple, I have often wondered if for some regions it would be better for some families to grow more peanuts than maize. There is probably a scientific report on this that I haven’t bothered to find and read on, so don’t mind me as I think out loud here.

Nyimo just like peanuts are cooked by boiling them in salt water. Before cooking them the skin is difficult to remove, boiling makes it easy to open them and eat.

They are the easiest thing to cook, pretty much anyone can do it, just boil them for about an hour. Taste wise, they taste like beans but better!