Flavours of Kitui

If I had to pick a favourite Kenyan dish, I would have a tough time. They are all delicious! So, to share the taste with you, I have taken a picture of all the dishes I enjoy in Kitui for you to munch on.
Let me know which you think you would like best!


























To start off your palate, we have the famous ugali and sukuma wiki! Possibly the most common dish
available sided with a fresh avocado.
Ugali is made of maize meal which is cooked to make a soft, moist dough-like side dish.
To eat, you take off a piece, with your hands, and scoop up some sukuma wiki to eat with.
Sukuma wiki is my favourite pair with ugali. It is made of onions, tomato, goat and lots of greens (swiss chard and kale are most common) and salt to flavour it up! This meal is a go-to! Always delicious and easy to make.
Ugali is often paired with other sides as well and many will eat it daily.





Githeri is perfect for a long hard day of work. It fills you right up and can keep you energized for the rest of the day.
It is made of cooked maize and beans as the base, then one can add tomato and onion as well with salt to flavour it up.
I have only had this a hand full of times even though its very common. I suppose I dont work hard enough...




Chapati and ndengu is always a treat! Chapati is a fried flat bread which can be served with any dish. My host mom makes the best! Ndengu is mostly made of green grams (a small green bean) with onion, tomato, salt and sometimes goat. Another nice meal that is eaten with the hands (no cutlery means less dishes and more fun to eat!)




I have yet to find a place in this world that does not eat rice! Here we are enjoying rice with a side of stew. Stew will have a base of tomato, onion, potato and other vegetables can be added such as carrots or peas and some goat too. And of course some salt to flavour it up!



This plate really gets the taste buds excited!! Pilau and kachumari.
Pilau has a very different flavour than the other dishes in that it has lots of ginger and garlic to give is some flare! It is a rice dish cooked with onion, tomato, goat and ginger, garlic, salt and pilau spice. It is less common, but served for more special occasions.
Kachumari is simply chopped up onion and tomato with a sprinkle of salt. A nice light side.
We can't make it through the menu without serving some uji! Uji (aka porridge) is nothing like porridge in Canada. Dont be fooled by the spoon, uji is runny and drunk. Most is made of maize but is also common to be made of sorghum or millet. This one is made from my host mom's concoction of beans, peanuts, millet and maize ground together to make a healthy, protein rich drink!



Mondays at the office one can often count on some chapati and matumbo from the restaurant down the road. Chapati you already know and enjoyed earlier with ndengu. Matumbo is Swahili for stomach. After a couple of cautious ventures into stomaching goat stomach, I have come to eat in confidently! And it's not bad at all! The stomach, with meat as well, is cooked up in a soup with tomato, onion and salt (have you noticed a theme yet in the food?).

I hope you enjoyed the flavours of Kitui!
 I specified Kitui because these dishes can change throughout the country. Such as fish being served western Kenya where the lakes are.
Now that I got your palate going, you can enjoy any of these dishes only a few flights away! I'll be here ready to serve you up. 

Comments

Popular Posts