TANZANIA - Ugali

 I thought I was well and truly beaten trying to find cakes in Tanzania. The food is no frills here, with maize again as a staple part of the diet. However digging a bit deeper I found that the Tanzanians do indeed   have a sweet tooth, loving their sodas and chocolate bars!!

Ugali
The staple food of Tanzania is Ugali is an East African dish of maize flour cooked with water to a porridge or dough like consistency. Whilst we were volunteering at the orphanage we had many HUGE plates of Ugali. It's not the tastiest of dishes, but served with some greens like spinach, and sometimes beans, it's a bit of an improvement.
There's quite a knack to eating it, first trying to pull off a lump of the ugali from the steaming hot mass on your plate (Always with your right hand) and rolling it into a ball, then scooping up a bit of the vegetables to add a bit of flavour.

Making the ugali - takes a good few hours!! 

A tasty lunch at the orphanage

Ugali with vegetables and beans

Ugali (The most common food in Tanzania...eaten in most households daily.)

• Maize (White Corn Flour) about 2 cups
• Water
• Salt (Optional)
• One also needs a Mwiko (a large wooden spoon/ladle)

Bring water in a pan to a boil (about 4 Cups)
Reduce heat to medium and put flour, gradually stirring until the consistency is stiff. Stir continuously, and cover for about 5 minutes.
Stir again and form into a mound. The ugali will be done when it pulls from the sides of the pan easily and does not stick. The finished product should look like stiff grits
Cover the pot with a plate and invert the pan so that the Ugali "drops" on the plate.
Serve with meat stew or brown beans.


Mince & Tatties

After receiving many lunches of ugali from Matron at the orphanage, I wanted to make them some scottish food, so what better than a plate of mince and tatties!! It took hours to prepare and cook on the kerosene stove!  Maybe not as tasty as my Mum's but they did come back for seconds!!

TANZANIA - Going bananas

All around Arusha, especially at this time of year in the rains, the surrounding countryside is fertile and green with gardens and fields full of maize, and coffee and banana plantations.

You will see huge bunches of bananas being carried on the back of motorbikes, or piled on women's heads! Bananas make an appearance in all forms - green  in savoury meat stews, on pizzas,  as beer and thankfully as banana cake!! 

Our daily walk to school

After climbing Kilimanjaro a couple of years ago, we had decided we would like to tackle her little sister  climb Mount Meru. Although almost 1500m lower than Kili, at 4566M, it was reputedly a tougher climb! We had been warned! We spent 4 days on the climb, and definitely found summit day tough! It felt longer, colder and far more technical than we remembered Kili being. It was a beautiful climb though, the route over 4 days going through some beautiful lush rainforest, plenty of wildlife including baboons, monkeys, zebra, giraffe, a chameleon and even a python!! We also were rewarded with some spectacular views of Kilimanjaro peaking out above the clouds at sunrise. 

One of the great things about this climb was that it was only our group on the whole mountain!! At the summit, there was only myself, Dean and our friend Shelly, our ranger Gideon and guide Frank! No need to queue for a photo here!!

The sun rising over Kili

The summit of Meru

We were treated to some fantastic cooking on our climb, chicken and chips, spag bol, and meat stew. It's amazing what can be made halfway up a mountain!!

Breakfast porridge pots

Reward after reaching the summit

We arranged our trip through the B & B we stayed at in Moshi - Tembotamu. Sandra made us a  a great packed lunch the first day with her delicious chocolate banana cake, which she has kindly shared.

TEMBO TAMU BANANA BREAD
Pre heat oven to 175C 


Mix together
1.25 Cup Flour
0.5 tsp baking powder 
0.5 tsp baking soda 
0.75 Cup sugar


Cream together
0.5 Cup margarine
2-3 eggs depending on size 
2-3 ripe bananas


Mix dry and wet together – until just combined 
Tip into tin: loaf, cake or even muffin tins


Bake for 40mins

Can also add - 
 Cinnamon Nuts Chocolate Chips 

TANZANIA - Maasi

One of the most interesting weekends we spent in Tanzania was visiting a Masai village. 

Here the locals live a very self sufficient lifestyle. They live in simple mud huts with thatch roofs, tend their goats for meat and milk, and now less nomadic than they once were,  grow their own maize and vegetables. It was a fascinating experience and amazing to see how they live such a basic, yet resourceful life far away from modern day society.

We visited on a Saturday which is market day. Men and women come from miles around, walking for hours to get to the market with their animals to sell, and to charge up their mobile phones!!

The butcher's shop

Goat on the barbeque

Mmmm, Tasty!

On special occasions such as a wedding, or ceremonies such as circumcision, the men slaughter and feast on goat. As night fell, the men of the boma gathered along with the chosen goat. It was then Dean who was given the honour of killing it!!

The goat takes its final breathes...

And then presented with the still warm kidney! 

Time to tuck in...

Each morning the women of the village set off on an hours walk to gather water from a waterhole. Makes you realise how lucky you are to be able to turn on a tap!!

TANZANIA - Chips Mayai and other street food

When in Tanzania we stayed in the town of Arusha. It is one of the craziest places we have been with constant noise and traffic. The sounds of the mosque, people shouting at the markets selling their wares, dogs barking and  dalla-dalla's speeding up and down the roads honking their horns looking for passengers. Getting a dalla-dalla around town although a bit daunting at first is quite a experience!  About 20 people squeeze in to the back of the mini bus, almost sitting on top of each other, with their shopping, tanks of kerosene for their stoves, and even chickens under the seats!

Arusha is the heart of safari country, so to satisfy the white tourists, there are many Mzungo (white person) cafes, and also a great variety of local food stalls.


Chips mayai
Chips mayai is a Tanzanian street food that you see being served up on most street corners. In Kiswhali, Mayai means egg.  The finished dish is basically a French fry omelette.
To make the dish, the fries are made and kept warm. Then they are added to a heavy cast iron pan over a fire. Eggs are cracked into a bowl and mixed with tomatoes, carrot, green peppers and onions. This is poured over the chips and the whole thing is fried into light golden pancake shape.

Chipa Mayai - a chip omelette

Samaki

Samosas 

• 1 inch piece ginger root
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 pounds ground lean lamb (or beef if desired)
• 3 large onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon mussala
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• Salt to taste
• 2 pounds frozen egg-roll dough, thawed
• Flour
• Oil

Makes 80 servings
Process ginger and garlic in blender until well mashed. Combine with meat, onions, mussala, curry powder, and turmeric. Sauté in a heavy frying pan, without adding any fat, over a low heat 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat. Spoon off fat.
Cut sheets of thawed egg-roll dough into strips about 3 by 6 inches. Fold one point up to form a triangular pocket. Folk over again, and then fill the pocket with some of the meat mixture.
Bring down the top and seal all open sides with a paste made of flour and water. You should end up with a neat, secure triangle of meat-stuffed pastry.
Deep-fat fry filled samosas, a few at a time, in oil, until golden brown. Drain and keep warm.
After frying and quick cooling, samosas may be frozen. To serve, thaw and place in a hot oven (400 deg. F) until very hot.


Fruit ladies

Fruit for sale in Arusha

Lunch with the Chairman

After a hard day's gardening we met the Chairman (the local MP). He welcomed us with beers and soda, and some Yuma choma (barbequed meat)

More shopping in Arusha

Roasted corn by the roadside

TANZANIA - Some cakes at last!!

Finding cakes in Tanzania was going to be quite a challenge! Although there are many cafes serving muffins, black forest gateaux, lemon meringues etc for the safari and Kili-going tourists (mzungos), at first I couldn't see much in the way of local sweet delicacies other than soda (Coke, Fanta and Sprite) which the Tanzanians have a very sweet tooth for, and chocolate bars!

Then I found a nice wee local cafe - Milk and Honey which sold local donuts - Maandazi. They were delicious and light, and not too sweet. Perfect with a cup of Kilimanjaro tea!!

Maandazi 

• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water
• oil

Makes about 2 dozen
Sift flour and baking powder together. Add sugar and salt.
Beat egg well and add water. Stir egg mixture into flour and mix until soft dough is formed. Add more water if necessary.
Knead dough in the bowl until smooth but not sticky. Dough should leave the sides of the bowl cleanly. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes. Roll out dough on a floured board until 1/2-inch thick. Cut into squares, strips, or triangles. Fry in deep fat until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper.

TANZANIA - Sugar and Spice and all things nice in Zanzibar

As a grand finale to our trip we decided to spend our last few days on the tropical island of Zanzibar. A short hour's flight from Kilimanjaro and you arrive on a paradise island, golden beaches lined with coconut palm trees and turquoise blue water. We couldn't have had a better last destination!

We spent the first couple of days in the main town - Stone Town. The ancient centre is a maze of narrow lanes with little shops selling all sorts of crafts, beads, khanga material, and of course spices! One of the main attractions on Zanzibar is a spice tour. Being in a prime location in the Indian Ocean, on the trade route between India, Africa and Europe,  Zanzibar developed through trade in mainly slaves and spices. Even today, spices account for a large part of it's economy. It is one of the main producers of cloves, and the government owns every clove tree on the island. Spices, coconut and seafood appear on every menu!

 One of the main attractions on Zanzibar is a spice tour where you learn about how the various spices are grown.

 Omar in the lemongrass

The Queen of spices the cinnamon tree, uses the leaf, bark and root

Cloves - The backbone of the Zanzibar economy

Tikka as in the red colouring used in Tikka masala

Nutmeg surrounded by red mace

Coconut juice

As well as spices, Zanzibar is also home to tropical fruits

Jackfruit

Breakfast fruit platter

Forodhani Gardens by night

The main square in StoneTown comes alive at night, with stalls setting up selling barbequed seafood - prawns, lobster, calamari, fish; spiced tea, sugarcane juice, and for pudding zanzibar  pizza - a pancake with anything from meat to nutella, coconut and mango.

seafood for the bbq

Sugarcane juiced and mixed with lime and ginger for a healthy non-alcoholic night cap!

Mr Nutella - Zanzibar pizza

Well, can't believe it, but that's us, a full 6 months of travel! Touched the ground in 12  countries, tackled 4 different languages. Made many new friends, met family overseas, sampled many different foods, some familiar, some never to be repeated! and ate lots of cakes! Thanks to everyone who shared their recipes, I look forward to trying them out back home, and collecting many more on travels in years to come!!

SOUTH AFRICA - Ostrich Omelettes in Oudsthoorn

Oudsthoorn in the Little Karoo is a town that grew in the boom years of the Ostrich empire. Around the turn of the century fashion houses all over the world were crazy for the feathers, and the area became full of Ostrich farms, generating a great deal of wealth allowing the Ostrich tycoons to build their own ‘Feather Palaces’. Nowadays, the feathers are not so popular for fashion, but a huge industry still exists for the ostrich meat – leaner and more protein than beef, and perfect for a Braai (South African BBQ)!!

On the road to Oudsthoorn

A new feather duster to do some cleaning when I get home!

An Ostrich egg is the equivalent to 24 hen eggs, making a HUGE omelette!!!