How to make Bhanda – the Indian-African fusion dish ideal for autumn

African politicians often have a playful turn of phrase. The former president of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, was dubbed ‘the cabbage’ by his political opponents. There is nothing to suggest that the founding president of Malawi, Hastings Banda, was called ‘the kidney bean’ by the political opposition but he could’ve been. For banda/bhanda is the word for the kidney bean in the Malawian language of chichewa.

Many culinary cultures vaunt their prowess with the kidney bean; it is of course a prized ingredient in Mexican and Cajun cuisine too. But prepared in the Indian-African manner, as a spicy curry-like stew and served with basmati rice (‘bhat’, in the Gujarati language of western India), it is wonderful: as warming and satisfying as a chilli, and perfect autumnal food.

The Indian population in Malawi was never as big as in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania or South Africa. Yet there was a small diaspora; like elsewhere in Africa, Indians were brought over by British colonial administrators in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to settle and, amongst other things, construct the first railway line between Malawi and Mozambique.