Alternative names Mieliepap Main ingredients Mealie-meal Main ingredient Cornmeal | Type Porridge Place of origin Southern Africa | |
Similar Boerewors, Chakalaka, Mielie‑meal, Potjiekos, Bobotie | ||
Pap /ˈpɑːp/, also known as mieliepap (Afrikaans for maize porridge) in South Africa or Sadza in Shona or Isitshwala in Isindebele language in Zimbabwe, or Ogi/ Akamu in Nigeria or phaletšhe in Botswana is a traditional porridge/polenta made from mielie-meal (ground maize) and a staple food of the Bantu peoples of Southern Africa (the Afrikaans word pap is taken from Dutch and simply means "porridge"). Many traditional Southern Africa dishes include pap, such as smooth maize meal porridge (also called slap pap or soft porridge), pap with a very thick consistency that can be held in the hand (stywe pap or firm porridge) and a more dry crumbly phuthu pap. Phuthu dishes are usually found in the coastal areas of South Africa.
A variety of savouries can be used to accompany pap, made from green vegetables, and flavoured with chilli.
Afrikaners in the northern parts of South Africa eat it as breakfast staple, with milk, butter and sugar, but also serve it with meat and tomato-stew (usually tomato and onion) at other meals, When they are having a braai, stywe pap or phutu pap with a savoury sauce like tomato and onion or mushroom and cheese is an important part of the meal. Phutu pap is popularly served with Boerewors, a combination that later became known as Pap en Wors (also called "Pap en Vleis").
In the Cape Province of South Africa it is almost exclusively seen as a breakfast food. Since mielie-meal is inexpensive, poor people combine it with vegetables. It can be served hot or, after it has cooled, it can be fried. Phutu porridge is sometimes enjoyed with chakalaka as a side dish with braais.
Similar dishes
Pap is also called ugali in eastern and some parts of southern Africa; In Zimbabwe amongst the Shona speaking people it is called sadza and amongst the Ndebele it is called isitshwala; nsima in Zambia and Malawi; phaletshe in Botswana.
In Nigeria, it is called akamu amongst the Igbo and Ogi or Akamu amongst the Yorubas with a consistency similar to American pudding. Ogi/Akamu in Nigeria is generally accompanied with "moin moin" a bean pudding or "akara" which is a bean cake. A similar dish is polenta, from northern Italy. In the United States a similar dish is known as grits. The primary difference between the US and the Western African dishes is that in the US the maize (or corn) used is a yellow kernel maize, whereas in West Africa maize is especially grown for human consumption with white kernels, allowing the whole kernel to be used for the maize meal.
Dishes similar to pap include banku, isidudu, uphuthu, umpokoqo and umngqusho.
