~248 cal · 8g protein · 32g carbs · 11g fat (estimated, per serving)
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Smooth maize porridge stirred with peanut butter
🇿🇼 Harare
Bota is the soft breakfast cousin of Zimbabwe's stiff sadza, a thinner maize-meal porridge cooked until smooth and stirred with a generous spoon of peanut butter for richness. Sweetened lightly and sometimes flavored with butter or Mahewu, it is warming, cheap, and beloved morning comfort.
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🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 4 —
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1 cup maize meal (mealie meal)
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1/3 cup peanut butter
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4 cups water
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to taste sugar
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a pinch salt
Instructions
1
Whisk the maize meal with 1 cup cold water into a slurry.
2
Bring the rest of the water to a boil and stir in the slurry.
3
Cook gently, stirring, until smooth and soft.
4
Stir in the peanut butter (or sunbutter) and sugar until creamy.
5
Serve warm in bowls.
Harare tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Harare. The capital’s tables built on sadza and garden greens.
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Zimbabwe. Sadza country, where greens meet peanut butter.
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Africa. Fifty-four countries of tagines, stews, and fire-kissed grills.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
More from Zimbabwe
Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter)
Collard greens folded into a creamy peanut-butter sauce — Zimbabwe’s everyday pairing for sadza.
Maheu
A thick, lightly sour maize drink, filling and mildly fermented — the energy-giving cooler of Zimbabwean fields and streets.