Local Dishes

1. Seswaa

   Seswaa (boiled meat pounded to shreds)

   Usage

   The classic dish of big gatherings such as weddings and funerals. Men usually cook it in a three-legged iron pot. Eaten with bogobe or morogo

   Grammar Note

   A dictionary headword (Matumo), given as the same as tshotlho. Setswana Wikipedia says beef or goat is boiled with only salt and water until very soft

2. Bogobe

   Bogobe (grain porridge)

   Usage

   A staple porridge made by stirring sorghum, maize or millet (lebelebele) meal into hot water. Normally eaten with a stew of meat

   Grammar Note

   A basic word in both the dictionary and Setswana Wikipedia. Add the grain, as in bogobe jwa mabele (sorghum porridge). Jwa is the "of" that agrees with bo- class nouns

3. Bogobe jwa lerotse

   Bogobe jwa lerotse (sorghum porridge with lerotse melon)

   Usage

   A sorghum porridge made with lerotse melon from the fields in the rainy season. Also cooked at weddings, and milk can be added for a richer taste

   Grammar Note

   Setswana Wikipedia has a paragraph on how it is made. Lerotse is a melon also called lekatane

4. Ting

   Ting (sour fermented sorghum porridge)

   Usage

   A slightly sour porridge cooked from sorghum or maize that has been left to ferment for a few days. Eaten with milk and sugar, or with meat and greens

   Grammar Note

   The dictionary (Matumo) has ting as "sour, fermented". Setswana Wikipedia says this food is called ting

5. Motogo

   Motogo (soft porridge)

   Usage

   A soft, wetter porridge. Eaten with meat, or with milk and sugar

   Grammar Note

   Setswana Wikipedia pairs it as bogobe/motogo. Leftovers are also used to make mageu, a fermented drink

6. Phaleche

   Phaleche (stiff maize porridge)

   Usage

   A stiff porridge made from maize meal. Eaten with chicken stew or vegetables

   Grammar Note

   Setswana Wikipedia mixes the spellings phaleche and phaletshe. The most frequent one, phaleche, is used here

7. Setampa

   Setampa (stamped maize, samp)

   Usage

   A dish of dried maize kernels that are crushed and boiled. Cooked with beans, or served with seswaa at weddings

   Grammar Note

   It has its own article in Setswana Wikipedia. South African English calls it samp

8. Dikgobe

   Dikgobe (boiled beans and grain)

   Usage

   Beans cooked with samp or sorghum until soft. A common home dish in Botswana

   Grammar Note

   Matumo glosses it as boiled whole grain or boiled corn. Setswana Wikipedia says it corresponds to English samp and beans

9. Madombi

   Madombi (dumplings)

   Usage

   Dumplings made of flour dough. Eaten with chicken stew, soup or vegetables

   Grammar Note

   Setswana Wikipedia says they are also called matlebelekwane. Madombi is used in the plural form (ma- class)

10. Diphaphatha

    Diphaphatha (flat griddle cakes)

    Usage

    Flat bread cakes cooked on a hot surface. Eaten as bread, for example with a meat stew

    Grammar Note

    The dictionary (Matumo) lists it as the plural of phaphatha. Setswana Wikipedia explains it as dikuku tse di sephaphathi, flat cakes

11. Phane

    Phane (mopane worms)

    Usage

    Caterpillars that feed on the leaves of the mopane tree. Cooked in hot ashes, boiled, or dried and fried. They appear around December

    Grammar Note

    The dictionary (Matumo) has phane as the mophane worm. The tree is mophane. The creature is also on the 5 pula coin

12. Serobe

    Serobe (stewed offal)

    Usage

    A dish of goat, sheep or beef intestines and stomach cut up and boiled until soft. Popular in Botswana

    Grammar Note

    Setswana Wikipedia describes serobe as intestines mixed with stomach (mogodu) and boiled. It is also a dictionary headword

13. Mogodu

    Mogodu (stomach, tripe)

    Usage

    The stomach of cattle or goats. Also eaten as a stew, together with dumplings or vegetables

    Grammar Note

    In the dictionary (Matumo) mogodu means "stomach". Setswana Wikipedia says madombi are eaten with traditional food such as mogodu. Note it also simply means stomach

14. Morogo wa dinawa

    Morogo wa dinawa (dried bean leaves)

    Usage

    A traditional vegetable dish of bean leaves that are boiled and dried, then cooked later. Eaten with bogobe

    Grammar Note

    Setswana Wikipedia calls dried bean leaves (morogo wa dinawa) a well-loved traditional dish. Dinawa is the plural of nawa

15. Segwapa

    Segwapa (dried meat strips)

    Usage

    Meat cut into strips and dried. A preserved food; the South African biltong is the same thing

    Grammar Note

    The plural is digwapa. Setswana Wikipedia says meat cut into strips and dried is called digwapa. Shops also use the English word biltong

16. Koko ya Setswana

    Koko ya Setswana (free-range village chicken)

    Usage

    Free-range village chicken, considered the best dish for welcoming a guest, cooked in a three-legged pot. Eaten with madombi or phaleche

    Grammar Note

    Setswana Wikipedia says serving a guest koko ya setswana shows a special welcome. Koko means "domestic fowl" in the dictionary

17. Lerotse

    Lerotse (a melon grown in fields)

    Usage

    A kind of melon grown in fields. It is prepared beforehand and stored, then eaten with porridge or madila

    Grammar Note

    Setswana Wikipedia says lerotse, also called lekatane, is a melon. The plural is marotse

18. Nawa ya morama

    Morama bean

    Usage

    A bean that grows in the dry Kalahari. A traditional food of the remote districts

    Grammar Note

    Setswana Wikipedia lists nawa ya morama among foods popular in remote districts. Nawa is the singular of dinawa (beans)

19. Mabele

    Mabele (sorghum)

    Usage

    The traditional staple grain of Botswana. Ground to meal for porridge and also fermented into beer

    Grammar Note

    The dictionary (Matumo) gives "sorghum; corn", a ma- class noun. Setswana Wikipedia says mabele and maize (mmidi) are the most widely grown crops in Botswana

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