Cooking · Zimbabwean recipes
Nyama (Zimbabwean Beef Stew)
Slow-cooked beef in onion and tomato — the everyday meat relish for sadza.
Prep
15 min
Cook
90 min
Serves
4
Approx. kcal
~745
Nyama is simply 'meat' in Shona, but used unqualified it means this dish: cubes of beef chuck or shin slowly braised down with onion and tomato until the meat yields to a spoon. There is no exotic ingredient list, no marinade, no pre-roast — just patience. A pressure cooker shortens this from 90 minutes to 30; purists insist the slower version tastes better.
Ingredients
- 1kg beef chuck or shin, cut into 3cm cubes
- 2 large onions, sliced
- 3 tomatoes, diced (or one 400g can of chopped tomatoes)
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 2 stock cubes (beef)
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 500ml water or beef stock
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
Method
- Pat the beef cubes dry with kitchen paper. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Brown the beef in batches — don't crowd the pan or it will steam. Set browned meat aside.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the onions to the same pot, scraping up the fond. Cook 8 minutes until softened and just starting to colour.
- Add the garlic and ginger, cook 1 minute until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt, cook 6 minutes until they collapse into a thick sauce.
- Return the beef to the pot. Crumble in the stock cubes, add the bay leaf, and pour in the water/stock. Stir.
- Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook 75-90 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat pulls apart with a fork.
- If the sauce is too thin at the end, uncover and simmer 10 more minutes to reduce. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
- Serve over or alongside sadza, with muriwo or another vegetable side.
About this dish
Beef is the default protein in Zimbabwean home cooking, with a strong cultural preference for slow-cooked stews over grilled steaks (those are for braais — barbecues — a separate tradition). The phrase 'nyama yenyama' literally means 'meat of meat', i.e. 'real meat'.
Sources & further reading
- Calorie estimate: per-ingredient kcal table (USDA-derived), divided by serves. Approximate — varies with portion size and exact ingredients used.
- Cultural context and method are editorial, based on widely-documented Zimbabwean home cooking. Last reviewed 2026-08-20.
Have a family variation that we missed? Email [email protected] — we credit contributors.
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