Maheu

My husband has been away for the last two weeks, I must say cooking for one is difficult. Either I cook too little or too much. I rarely get it right. Last week when I made Sadza nemuboora, I made too much Sadza so I ended up sticking it into the fridge because I do not like throwing food away. BUT I do not like munya(left over Sadza for the following morning), never did, I have tried and it just does not work for me. So lunch time I was looking at my munya and it was really looking like it was going into the bin, that is when it struck I have not had maheu in more than five years. I have no idea why. Maheu is the drink made from leftover Sadza and sometimes people actually just make a porridge to use to make maheu.

This is probably the most common beverage in Zimbabwe, largely because it is easy to make and easy on the pocket too. Being made out of starch, this is not a beverage that you drink and go to sleep, this is a beverage that people take during breaks working in the fields. I will even go on to say it is non caffeine energy drink! I grew up in an Adventist home, Adventists make their maheu different from everyone else. This is because everyone else uses chimera(malted rapoko) as a brewing agent. If you let your maheu brew longer with chimera it becomes alcoholic at least so I have heard then it becomes the traditional brew – masese. Truth is, as a child I tasted maheu with chimera and even tasted mangisi ( I am not sure if this alcoholic or not, I have heard debates but I am not sure) and I did not like either.  Here is the recipe for I make it:

Ingredients

1 cup leftover Sadza

1 tablespoon flour( if you drink chimera then use 1 tablespoon chimera)

1 quart water

Method:

In a bowl crumble the left over sadza with a cup of the water, until the sadza is like bread crumbs.

Add a tablespoon of flour and whisk it in

Transfer to a pitcher or you can use a clay pot which further enhances the taste. Everything tastes better in a clay pot.

Add the rest of the water. Close the pitcher and place in a warm place. For the brewing to take place your pitcher must be in a warm place, you are most likely not going to get the desired taste in colder climates. I know in Zimbabwe during the winter months the brewing will take longer. Here in Bermuda it is summer right now and in two days my maheu was ready to drink. When I opened the pitcher it was frothy which is was you want to see.

You can add sugar to maheu just like you do in tea so it is optional. If you go kumusha(the rural areas in Zimbabwe), they usually put in the sugar for everyone, this is usually done to save the sugar.

I used a glass so that you can see what maheu looks like but I like to drink maheu from a plastic tumbler and it has to be big. If you have the oppportunity of visiting kumusha they may just serve this drink using mukombe! Cheers!