Chipsi Ndizi (Banana Fries)

While in Tanzania, I had "Roast Banana" in every home I visited for dinner. To be honest, I didn't really care for them. They were always dry. I always put lots of pilipili sauce on them.

A few weeks ago, I bought a bunch of dark maroon bananas at the store. They were hard as rocks and probably were imported from half a world away. Well, they never did quite ripen! So I wondered if they might be delicious as oven fries. I had a little more control with temperature in my first world oven.  Maybe a lower temperature would make them crisp on the outside and moist on the inside?
Well, they turned out just delicious! I greased my cast iron baking sheet with lots, lots! of coconut oil. I sprinkled them with sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and smoked paprika. I mixed some habanero hot sauce with ketchup to recreate a spicy ketchup I had in the Dar es Salam airport.They were delicious!

Chipsi Ndizi

Serves 1 as a meal or 2-3 as a side dish

2 bananas (I used the dark red variety) unripe but not completely rock hard
coconut oil
sea salt
smoked paprika
fresh ground pepper
Ketchups
hotsauce

Slice the bananas in half width wise and then length wise. So, you have four spears. Heavily grease a baking sheet with coconut oil. Roll the bananas in the coconut oil. Sprinkle the banana pieces with the salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about a half hour or more. Check for light browning and soft inside.

Meanwhile, make your ketchup and hotsauce.  When the fries are ready, enjoy!

 The banana type I used and the hotsauce

Supu ya Kuku na Karanga

Chicken Peanut Soup

3 Tbs. Sunflower Oil

2 red onions roughly chopped

1 Tbs. Tomato Paste

28 oz. canned tomatoes

4 chicken thighs chopped

4 c. chicken stock

1/4 c. smooth peanut butter

1 clove chopped garlic

1 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

chopped cilantro for garnish

cooked rice (optional)

Heat the oil in a soup pot and saute the onions until soft. Then, add the garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, turmeric and cayenne pepper. Saute a few more minutes.  Then add the chicken stock and peanut butter.  Use a hand held emersion blender to blend the ingredients-not too smooth!  Bring the soup to a low boil and add the chicken. Cook the chicken in the broth for about 5 min. then turn the heat down, put a lid on it and let it cook on low 30 min- a couple of hours.  Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with the cilantro.

The next day, I had the leftovers with some rice.

Saladi ya Parachichi (Avocado Salad)

Saladi ya Parachichi: Picture taken on a table overlooking the Rift Valley, Tanzania

This dish is so simple yet would be very impressive to serve guests.  Find the largest avocados possible that are perfectly ripe.  Finely dice ripe tomato and red onion.  I would do a 4 tomato to 1 onion ratio. Toss with a little red wine, extra virgin olive oil, course sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Spoon into the avocado holes.  If your avocado holes are quite small, you could carve out a bigger hole and save the extra avocado for later.  

This recipe is so versatile.  You could obviously make this a Mexican avocado salad by adding some lime juice, cilantro and jalapeno to the tomato mixture. My husband had a similar dish in Zimbabwe, but the avocados were filled with a finely diced fresh garlic and hot pepper mixture.  Sounds awesome, doesn't it? This salad would be tasty alongside any grilled meat or fish or a hearty bean and rice stew.

Pilipili Kali

Above: Roasted Peppers for Pilipili Nairobi-Kali Sana!

 

Above: Pilipili Nairobi bottled and ready to enjoy...with caution

I really love making Pilipili Kali or African Hot Sauce.  I am going to keep the recipes I have to myself, but, one I call Pilipili Rift Valley and the other, Pilipili Nairobi.  The Rift Valley recipe is from some friends who live near the Rift Valley.  The other recipe, I designed after an amazingly hot pilipili I had at a restaurant in Nairobi.  Both are full of various hot peppers with a little oil, salt and vinegar for preservation and flavor.

   
   Below: Pilipili Rift Valley being pushed through a funnel, using a chopstick.  Pilipili is more oil based and mild than the Nairobi.

Chips Mayai

Chips Mayai, or hashbrown omelet was a new discovery when I last visited Tanzania.  I'm not sure how authentic this is, but I loved it!  I love all things potato, and especially hashbrowns!  I was so lucky to get my fill of many varieties of potatoes on my visit (and avocado).  The first time I had this dish, I was at a friend's house.  The second time, it was at a university in Tanzania.  I also saw this dish advertised at local restaurants, but never at a Western Style resort or restaurant. I also saw it advertised as an "egg crack".  I shred my potato into hash browns, when I had it in TZ, they didn't have a shredder, so they cut it like thin french fries or "chips".  Oh, and "mayai" means "eggs" in Swahili, so there you go. Below, is the chips I had at the university.  I had this for lunch and they garnished it with ketchup and a little coleslaw.

Chips Mayai

Serves 1-2 people

1 russet potato, shredded
2 eggs, beaten with a little milk or water
oil or oil spray
salt and pepper
optional:
ketchup
pili pili or hotsauce

Heat a little oil in a small omelet pan over medium high heat.  Once hot, place the shredded potato in the pan until it evenly covers the pan.  Fry on one side, don't stir! Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  After you make a little peak to the down side and it's brown, flip the potatoes over like a pancake to fry on the other side. After about 5 minutes, pour the egg mixture over the hash browns. Turn the heat to medium low. Let cook about 2 minutes on one side, then flip over again to cook the other side for about a minute, depending on how "done" you like your eggs. Transfer to a plate.  Serve with pili pili sauce (East African hot sauce) or any hot sauce and ketchup.  A good compliment to this hearty dish would be some orange and avocado slices.  Orange and avocado slices were served with nearly every dish I had in the Meru Village in Tanzania.  You could also add anything to this dish as you would an omelet.  Make it healthy with some sauteed spinach and tomatoes, or make it naughty by adding some cheese and bacon.  Whatever you want...it's your Chips Mayai!

Ugali and Stew

Tonight marked our 1 year anniversary of being homeowners.  It also happens to be Halloween (I was dressed in my bunny sweat suit while I signed all the legal docs last year and I am dressed as a cat as I write this).  My husband was in need of comfort food, and for him, that is ugali and stew.  I decided to make chicken stew since that is the meat I had on hand. I have made chicken stew before, but this is definitely my favorite one.  

My favorite chicken stew:

2 chicken breasts (or an equal amount of any meaty part of the chicken)

1 quart chicken broth

1 bunch of fresh thyme

1/4 cup dried lemongrass

1 small bunch fresh parsley

2 Tbs. peanut butter

1/4 cup sherry

1 chopped jalapeno or other hot chili pepper

4 carrots thinly sliced

2 potatoes cut into bite sized pieces

2 yellow onions roughly chopped

1 bunch of fresh greens chopped or about a cup of frozen greens (chard, collard, spinach, etc.)

4 cloves chopped garlic

The following are spices that you may or may not have... Use all or some to taste....I used a lot tonight!

seasoned salt

Zanzibar tumeric

Zanzibar curry

Barbados curry (Thanks Ashley!)

Sweet curry

Zanzibar red curry (which is more of a thickener and food coloring)

ginger powder

poultry seasoning

mustard powder

Zanzibar dried hot chilis

black pepper

salt

Bring the chicken broth to a low boil in a large stock pot and add the raw chicken. Add the thyme, parsley, lemongrass, garlic and sherry. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove the chicken and let set on a cutting board to cool.  Pour the broth through a strainer into an 8 cup liquid measuring cup to separate all the solids from the broth.  Pour the strained broth back into the stock pot and discard all the solids that were cooked with the broth.  Add all the remaining ingredients, except the chicken and the greens. Bring to a low boil for about 10 min.  Add the corn starch, mixed with enough water to dissolve it, to the pot and continue to boil for at least a minute to get red of the starchy taste.  Turn the heat to low and then add the chicken and the greens (if fresh).  Let the pot sit for at least an hour, uncovered.  After it has set for at least an hour, add the greens (if frozen) and heat until warmed through.  

Dish into shallow soup bowls and let it sit for a bit to cool off, especially if you will be serving it with ugali and using your fingers!

Ugali (Tanzania, Kenya) Sadza (Zimbabwe)

It is very easy to make Ugali yet sort of hard to explain.  Also, I don't feel quite worthy of telling you how to make it because I am probably not very good at it.  Although, I am getting better and my husband says I am getting MUCH better.  When I have more time I will post a video that shows our friend Bosco making Ugali in Tanzania.

All I can tell you is this:

I take about 2 cups of white corn flour combined with approximately 3 cups of water.  I stir it until it is dissolved and then bring it to a boil.  I stir it vigorously and then reduce the heat a little. I smooth it around and sort of seal the top up and wait until it is puffing from the heat that is trying to escape.  Then I stir it all around again.  This is an arm workout! I repeat this process at least 4 more times.  The ugali should be very stick and not be too moist or sticky.  It is much thicker than grits.  I transfer it into a bowl and smooth it all around to make it round in the bowl. You know you have made it close to okay when it does not stick much at all to your hands. 

 I used this rainbow chard about a month ago in my stew. I thought it was beautiful! Tonight, I used frozen spinach which is not picture worthy.

 This is a picture of the chicken stew I made about a month ago.  It was not nearly as good and I learned quite a bit from making this semi-flavorful stew. First, I need to strain the herbs and lemongrass from the broth and second, I need to add way more spices! I did happen to make very good ugali that night.  It was nice and firm and did not stick to your fingers.  The ugali that we ate in Tanzania was much lighter than this.  I do buy the white corn flour but it is still not as light as theirs is.

 This is the dried lemongrass, parsley, and thyme after I added it to the broth and before I strained it.  

Tasty Chicken Stew and Ugali