Out on Lake Kariba, the vast reservoir on Zimbabwe's northern border with Zambia, fishing rigs work through the night with lamps lowered over the water to draw in shoals of kapenta, a silvery fish only a few inches long that originally came from Lake Tanganyika. At dawn the catch is spread on racks and rocks to dry in the sun, and from there it travels in sacks to every market in the country. Dried kapenta, called matemba in Shona, keeps for months without a fridge, costs little and packs a great deal of protein into a very small fish, which goes a long way toward explaining its popularity.

At home it is soaked, fried until crisp, then folded through onion, curry powder and tomato into a punchy relish for sadza. It tastes of the lake, salty and savory, somewhere between crisp anchovy and good fried whitebait. Look for dried kapenta in African grocers; if you cannot find it, dried anchovies from an Asian grocer make a close and very respectable substitute, with no passport required.

The kapenta relish

Ingredients

• 8 oz (225 g) dried kapenta (matemba)
• 4 cups (960 ml) boiling water
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon mild curry powder
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
• 2 tablespoons roasted peanut powder
• 1 pinch fine salt

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