now THIS is how you make Ugali and Sukooma!

Ugali is a porridge like thing made from Maize flour and water cooked together. My roommate had some maize flour in the cupboard and I've been meaning to try cooking it but cooking it in a way that actually tastes like something other than white paste. Also, Kenyans eat this "green" leafy vegetable that they chop in very thin strands and cook it the exact same way every time..cook onion, add sukooma, add tomato and salt and you are done. don't question it with a Kenyan. "That is how you make Sukooma and Ugali". I beg to differ.

So, watching Jamie Oliver all morning, I got on the creative train of thinking that Maize is corn, just not sweet like we know it. And polenta is made from ground corn, and you can do all kinds of lovely things with that. And sukooma is like kale or spinach, and you can make that taste good as well. So here it went- and it was amazing, if I do say so myself. Hooray for being sick and spending all day watching cooking show and then cooking. Just wish Dan was here.

Ugali: I cooked it with salt, pepper and chilli powder. Basically I would make polenta if I was at home with the same. Once its thick and cooked, take it off the stove and put into a pan or plate and flatten it out to cool.

Sukooma and Cabbage: saute an onion, add strips of green cabbage and a bit of water to soften it up. Once thats cooked, add grated carrot and your sukooma (or spinach or kale) with some salt, pepper, chilli and oregano. Take off the heat and fry up a couple of eggs.

Once the Ugali has cooled, I sliced it into squares and pan fried it. Due to the fact that I have only one terrible frying pan, it stuck. On the bright side, once I took the squares off I fought to get off the crispy bits that stuck on the pan and put them on top of the dish. Lovely. Ontop of the Ugali (or polenta) I put spread on a laughing cow cheese (thats all you can really get here), piled on the vegetables, placed your egg on top, and the crispy bits of polenta on top of that.

Finish with good oil, et voila! Kenyan food CAN be delicious!