Ugali, Well You Came And You Gave Without Taking

NATIONAL DISH OF KENYA - Ugali

Back to the cradle of civilisation we travel today, to the country of Kenya. The national dish of Kenya is Ugali, a dough like dish made from maize flour cooked with water. Now I can hear what your thinking, "Leo this Ugali sounds familiar, haven't we seen this before at The GGJ?" And now your thinking, "How did you know what I was thinking? Are you some kind of Witchdoctor? GET OUT OF MY HEAD VOODOO MAN!"

Well to answer your first question, yes, yes we have. Throughout the land of Africa porridge like food comes in many forms and is made from different core ingredients. So far we've made Nshima from Zambia and Dumboy from Liberia. Of course there are other African countries that have similar meals, but we've already talked about them in other posts. So if you're interested, go back through the archives and have a look. Don't worry, I'll wait here until you're done.

Welcome back! Now you've seen the other posts you are familiar with the customs of making and eating such a dish. Now even though I may make similar dishes, the mealing experience doesn't feel repetitive. This is because there is always a different side dish specific to a region that gives the dish extra flavour.

Enjoy, or as they say in Kenya, Furahieni chakula chenu! (that is the beautiful language of Swahili)





For all things Kenyan cuisine related: http://allthingskenyan.com/food-ugali.html

Difficulty:         4

Appearance:   2

Taste:              2 

TOTAL:            8

The reason I have given the difficulty a 4 instead of a 5 (like the similar Nshima), is that the Ugali had less water and more maize flour than the Nshima. This made it much harder to remove all the lumps to provide a smooth porridge consistency. But with some time, patience and a LOT of elbow grease, I managed to get it to an edible consistency.

The appearance was pretty much the same as Nshima, dough like that is able to hold it's shape. But it was a whole lot yellower!

Adding more flour makes the Ugali more dense, and the thicker it is the harder it is to swallow. I prefer it to still be thick but adding a bit more water would have been better. Now, let's talk about the side dish that it is served with, Sukuma Wiki. Sukuma Wiki is a vegetable stew made primarily from kale. It adds flavour and more texture to the Ugali, and helps it go down better. Plus it tastes great, so that's a bonus. I don't want Kenyans to feel that I am being disrespectful or that I don't like their food. I guess my palate is very different, and if I grew up eating Kenyan cuisine I would have a higher appreciation for it. But I did enjoy the Sukuma Wiki.

And to answer your second question, my impressive mind tricks are still being tested, so we're not sure what kind of supernatural being I am yet.