Kalembula is the Zambian relish of sweet potato leaves (Ipomoea batatas) — shredded and simmered with onion, tomato, and groundnut powder until soft and savory. Sweeter and more delicate than pumpkin leaves or cassava leaves, it is the most prized of the Zambian vegetable relishes, eaten with nshima across the country.
Kalembula is the Bemba name for sweet potato leaves and the relish made from them. The leaves grow abundantly in every Zambian garden — the sweet potato is a zero-maintenance crop, its leaves harvested without killing the plant. Kalembula is prized because the leaves are sweeter and more tender than pumpkin (chibwabwa) or cassava (katapa), with none of the latter's bitterness. Like the other vegetable relishes, it is cooked with kutendela (groundnut powder) and eaten with nshima.
A bowl of bright-green shredded leaves in a light peanut-thickened sauce. The leaves are sweeter and more delicate than other Zambian greens; the groundnut powder gives a creamy backdrop. It is the gentlest of the relishes — the one you eat when you want something that does not fight back.
The sweet potato leaves are delicate and cook faster than cassava or pumpkin leaves (20 minutes is enough). They are shredded finely by hand. The kutendela groundnut powder is stirred in at the end; sweet potato leaves are mild enough that the peanut flavor really shines. The leaves turn a deep emerald green when cooked (not the dark forest-green of cassava leaves), which signals they are done.
Variations
Some cook it with chidulo (ash vinegar) for tang; some mix it with bondwe (amaranth); some use peanut butter.
On the Palate
Where Kalembula sits in the Zambian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 25 min active + 15 min waiting
- 14 min
Strip 500 g sweet potato leaves from tough stems; shred the leaves.
- 24 min
In a pot, soften 1 diced onion in sunflower oil 4 minutes.
- 33 min
Add 2 diced tomatoes; cook 3 minutes.
- 412 min
Add the shredded leaves and 100 ml water; simmer covered 12 minutes.
Watch outThe leaves are done when they turn deep emerald and go tender — sweet potato leaves cook fast, so don't push past bright green into drab.
- 53 min
Stir in 80 g groundnut powder gradually.
Watch outStir the groundnut powder in a little at a time so it dissolves smooth — dumped in at once it clumps into lumps.
- 68 min
Simmer 8 minutes until thick and the leaves are tender.
- 72 min
Season with salt; rest 2 minutes.
- 81 min
Serve with nshima.
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