Local Dishes

1. Uphuthu

   Uphuthu (crumbly stiff maize-meal staple)

   Usage

   The everyday staple in KwaZulu-Natal: dried maize (ummbila) ground into meal (impuphu), then cooked in boiling water. Eaten with ubhontshisi (beans), amasi (soured milk) or any isishebo (relish). Iphalishi, the soft porridge from the same meal, is different.

   Grammar Note

   A class 11 noun. The subject concord is lu-. Examples: Uphuthu lungukudla; Ludliwa.

2. Iphalishi

   Iphalishi (soft maize-meal porridge, eaten at breakfast)

   Usage

   Common at guesthouse breakfasts. Maize meal (impuphu) is sometimes made lighter with milk (ubisi); usually eaten in the morning in southern Africa. Cooked stiffer with less water, the same meal becomes uphuthu.

   Grammar Note

   A class 5 noun. The subject concord is li-. Examples: I-phalishi livame ukuba nombala oqinile futhi livame ukudliwa ekuseni.

3. Ujeqe

   Ujeqe (steamed bread)

   Usage

   Yeast dough steamed in a pot of boiling water, also called ujeqe in Zulu. Usually torn and dipped into isitshulu (stew). An order example is "Ngifuna ujeqe namahewu".

   Grammar Note

   A noun beginning with u-.

4. Idombolo

   Idombolo (steamed dumpling bread)

   Usage

   In Zulu practice, steamed on top of the stew rather than in a separate pot. Served with isitshulu senkukhu (chicken stew) or isitshulu senkomo (beef stew). The same bread is also called ujeqe.

   Grammar Note

   A class 5 noun. The subject concord is li-. Examples: Idombolo liphekwa; Idombolo livame ukudliwa.

5. Isitambu

   Isitambu (boiled samp, coarsely crushed maize)

   Usage

   White samp and ubhontshisi (beans), soaked for a good while then boiled soft. Usually served with chicken or beef isishebo. With beans it is called isitambu nobhontshisi. The Xhosa name is umngqusho; do not mix the two up.

   Grammar Note

   A class 7 noun. The plural is class 8 izitambu.

6. Isijingi

   Isijingi (thick maize-meal porridge)

   Usage

   Porridge, a signature traditional dish alongside uphuthu and amasi, often made with pumpkin (ithanga) stirred in. ⚠ Ithanga is also spelled like the word for "thigh", so context matters.

   Grammar Note

   A class 7 noun. The plural is class 8 izijingi.

7. Isitshulu

   Isitshulu (meat stew)

   Usage

   Steamed bread is served with isitshulu senkukhu (chicken), isitshulu senkomo (beef) or isitshulu sezinyane (lamb). The "isitshulu + se- + animal" pattern is how these appear on menus.

   Grammar Note

   A class 7 noun. The possessive linker is se-. "Stew of X" takes se- before the animal name. Examples: isitshulu senkukhu.

8. Isishebo

   Isishebo (the relish or sauce served with the staple)

   Usage

   A key menu word for anything served with uphuthu or isitambu, meat or vegetable. "Noma yisiphi isishebo" means any relish at all; "isishebo eceleni, ngabe inyama yenkukhu noma yenkomo" means a relish on the side, chicken or beef.

   Grammar Note

   A class 7 noun. The question stem -phi takes the class 7 form siphi. Examples: noma yisiphi isishebo.

9. Umhluzi

   Umhluzi (broth, meat gravy)

   Usage

   The liquid that comes out of a stew, poured over uphuthu. This is the word for asking for more gravy — distinct from isobho, "a bowl of soup"

   Grammar Note

   A class 3 noun. The plural is class 4 imihluzi.

10. Ishisanyama

    Ishisanyama (a grill-your-own meat spot and the gathering around it)

    Usage

    You buy raw meat, usually at the adjoining butchery, and you or the staff grill it over coals. Spellings include shisa nyama, shisanyama and shesa nyama. It names the food, venue and gathering, so a sign means a place to grill meat.

    Grammar Note

    A class 9 noun. The subject concord is ya-. Built from shisa (to burn, to be hot) + inyama (meat). Examples: ishisanyama yashintsha; igama lesiZulu elithi shisa … nelithi nyama.

11. Inyama eyosiwe

    Grilled meat (braaied meat)

    Usage

    The "grilled meat" menu item. Both inyama yokoswa and inyama eyosiwe are understood. An order example is "Ngifuna ukudla inyama eyosiwe".

    Grammar Note

    Inyama is class 9, so the relative clause takes the class 9 prefix e-, giving eyosiwe. A class 5 noun would need the eli- series instead, so do not transplant this relative onto another noun.

12. Amadumbe

    Amadumbe (taro, boiled as a side)

    Usage

    Colocasia esculenta, a tuber common in KwaZulu-Natal, usually boiled in its skin. South Africans eat both leaves and roots. A signature traditional food alongside uphuthu and ujeqe.

    Grammar Note

    A class 6 noun. Begins with ama- and is used collectively. The subject concord is a-. Examples: Amadumbe … ayisitshalo.

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