Matapa

A Mozambican Recipe for 'Matapa'

This is one of my favorite dishes, and it is typical of the area where I serve. It's a green-coconut-peanut type of curry which is served over rice, or also ‘xima', which is made of maize.  

I changed a couple of the ingredients because they may be hard to find outside of Mozambique, but the result should be quite similar.


A leafy green from the mandioca (cassava) is used, (but swiss chard or collard greens could be used).

The peanuts, and then the garlic and leafy greens would be pounded out in with a mortar and pestle. (But a food processor could be used). The peanuts should be ground into a fine powder and the greens should be liquefied.

The coconuts would be broken in half then shaved on a special little wooden stool with a metal piece sticking out that has little sharp teeth.

Once the white part is shaved out into a basin, then warm water is poured over the coconut shavings and this is squeezed to get the coconut milk out and then you pour it into the curry through a sieve, so that none of the pieces go into the curry, just the milk.

 

This is done two or three times to get all the flavor out of the coconut. (But you could buy coconut milk in a can as long as it is unsweetened).

Ingredients:

2 full handfuls of leafy greens (swiss chard, collard greens)

3 cups raw peanuts

3 1/2 cups of coconut milk (unsweetened)

1 small onion (chopped fine)

2 small to medium sized cooking tomatoes (chopped up)

5 cloves of garlic (chopped fine or put in food processor)

Salt to taste

Instructions:

Wash the leafy greens and take out any thick stems. Cut them up and put them and the garlic in the food processor to liquefy.  Cook and stir the greens between low to medium heat in about 1 cup of water for about 20 min.

Grind up the peanuts into powder. Over medium heat add the peanut powder into the pot with 1-2 cups of water and the coconut milk. Let it come to a boil.

Add the cut up onions, tomatoes, and then salt. Stir it a bit, and then put the heat on low to let it simmer for almost 2 hours.

Once it’s ready, you can pour this green-peanut-coconut curry over rice and enjoy!

Worms, Bites, and Life

Every 6 months I take a chewable tablet that treats roundworm, whipworm, pinworm/threadworm, hookworm, and tapeworm 

(the worm types are clearly pictured on the box :) 

Since recovering from African tick bite fever, I've been thinking about worms and bites lately.

African Tick

After sharing a Bible story in a village one evening, I saw a beautiful scene like the one below of an African Acacia tree in the sunset.

It made me think of some of the different concepts people have of life in Africa.   

Some may think of beautiful Acacia trees with inspiring African music playing in the background.


And there truly are such things.

But that night, as I turned to my side on the floor I was sleeping on, itching my bites (mostly mosquito), staring at the rat scurrying by, praying that people would know God's love for them through the next day's Bible story...  


I thought to myself, this is a more what life is like. 

Some Images from Inhambane

A Missionary (in bright color)

  

 A Road

A House

 A Backyard

 A Bathroom

 A Kitchen

 Dinner

 A Church

 A Market

 A Store

 Clothes

 Water

 Food

 A Can Opener

 Children

 Friends

Land Purchase and Inhambane Trip

Thank you for praying. We are in the process of purchasing the 2 plots of land in Quissico, Inhambane, where, Lord willing, I will be able to live and serve in the future!   

Diolinda, Aimee, Jesuita, Joao, Benilde

It's not typical here to smile in photos.

(I wasn't being typical) 

I continue to work alongside of my faithful partner, Pr. Abel Miambo. 

We also brought a young lady from Ireland, Heather, an occupational therapist, who is in Mozambique for 6 months.

And Joao, from Pastor Abel's church, took his second trip with us.

He has a lot of energy...

  

We wanted to see if we could capture him in mid-air while he did his amazing flips. 

 Then we compared the amazing mid-air photos.

I just got one of his left foot and right hand flying by.

Our little friend, Charmila, usually comes by to visit us in Quissico. 

 

 We went to teach the church group in Xiruti.

  

Easter Sunday in Nyamajeho.

It was a privilege to share about God's love for all of us, and the salvation that He offers us in Christ under the tree on Easter morning.

My dear friend, Jesuita, helped out by translating my Portuguese into the local Txitxopi language.

  

 Mama Rosa and the kids

 Diolinda, giving me my Txitxopi language lesson.

  

 Me, apparently having enough of my lesson after a long day.  

  

 Church leader discipleship training under the cashew tree.

  

  Teaching a Bible study with Mama Ermelinda.

  

Diolinda and Crista taught Heather how to sing the Portuguese equivalent of "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" 

  

And finally, a random sight near our church in Cala that makes me smile every time I pass by - 

...it's a STOP sign
...in English
...attached half way up a coconut tree
...miles from any main road :o)  

Ministry and Land in Inhambane

Together with Pastor Abel and a young man from his church named Joao, we traveled to Inhambane to do the leadership training, women's Bible study, and Chronological Bible storytelling. 

I stayed in Quissico with Diolinda, the younger sister of Palmira and Jesuita, who is on the left eating her breakfast of shaved cassava in hot water.

Diolinda, now in the 10th grade, lives in the same reed house that Palmira and Jesuita lived in when they were studying at the high school.

My four student housemates

After I had a full day of house-to-house visits into the far out bush of Nyamadjeho, two of the students gave me a late night Txitxopi language lesson by candlelight, where I learned how to say important things like...

"I like the kitchen" and "I don't like the shirt"

One of the women we visited to pray for was Mama Magarita.

We walked far out to her field and she pulled up some cassava, and a small sweet pineapple to thank us for our visit.

I invited her to the next women's Bible study writing the date in the ground with a stick. 

Land!

Before leaving for the US last year, I moved to Inhambane city for around 5 months to see if that would be a good place for me to live in the future. 

However, most of the people that we have been working with, and the 2 churches that have been planted, are based in the district of Zavala. Inhambane city is quite far from this area, and as much as I enjoyed living there, it would not be the best place for me to live.

Along with my Mozambican and missionary colleagues, I began looking for land in the central part of Zavala, the municipality of Quissico. 

My colleagues from Maputo, Larry and Melvin, joined Pastor Abel and I to see some land we found that was being sold by a local man we met in Quissico.

 There are two separate plots, the smaller of which could be used to build a house where I could live, the larger of which could be used to build a training center that could function as a local place for church services, leadership trainings, Bible studies, meetings, etc...

I would appreciate prayer for the land that God wants for us to use for His work and His glory in Inhambane, Mozambique.

Thank you!