Here are my first attempts at cooking three classic Tanzanian/East African dishes: ugali, chapati, and chips mayai. I have included the online recipe I used at the end of each separate food section. Karibu chakula!
Ugali
Ugali is the staple food for many Tanzanians (and many East Africans more generally). It is a firm, thick substance made of corn flour and cooked in boiling water (I think the English word to describe ugali is 'polenta'). Ugali is not eaten alone; it is typically paired with some sort of stew into which you dip the ugali. And yes you use your hands!
Unfortunately my idea for this food post came right as I finished making my first ugali, so I didn't think to take pictures of the process. But at the very least you can check out the end result.
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| So typically when ugali is served, it's a lot prettier looking. It is usually shaped into a sort of loaf. The stew you see prepared next to the ugali is composed of onions, tomatoes, and fish (I used sangala, a local-ish fish that I think is often caught in Lake Victoria) |
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| To eat ugali, simply take a piece into your hand, sort of roll it up to make it firm, and then scoop into the stew, capturing the food between the ugali and your thumb. It's definitely not a natural motion for me but hopefully the more ugali I make the better I'll get |
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| Nothing fills you up like ugali, believe me! |
Chapati
I love chapati. It's so good. Chapati is similar to naan (if you're familiar with the Indian dish) only for chapati the flattened dough is lightly fried. Chapati often goes along with tea. In fact, chai ('tea' in Swahili), usually denotes eating something with your tea. Chai essentially serves as breakfast/a late morning snack.
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| A chapati getting fried. It doesn't take long to fry, but it took a long time for me to make the dough and try to roll it out to get a thin consistency |
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| Speaking of thinness, I didn't quite have the patience to make my chapatis as thin as they are actually supposed to be. I'll need to work on my rolling pin technique to get the chapatis down correctly |
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| A couple of chapati and a cup of tea! Folding the chapati up as pictured is a pretty common way to consume it. (NOTE: Tanzanians generally tend to put a lot of sugar into their tea; as someone who didn't drink tea until I got here, I have been thoroughly indoctrinated into the use of a copious amount of sugar. If anyone back in the US ever has tea with me please don't be repulsed) |
Chips Mayai
Chips mayai is exactly what's in the name: chips (french fries to some) and mayai ('eggs' in Swahili) together in a sort of large omelette. It's a really popular street food here; many street spots across Dodoma will make you chips mayai in 10 minutes or less (though one time friends and I waited for over two hours for chips mayai, we're not going to talk about that...).
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| Making chips myself for the first time has really made me appreciate the absurd amount of oil you have to use to properly fry them. Chips mayai is not health food, that's for sure |
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| After frying the chips, getting some mayai action in. It's a little tricky to turn over; typically a plate is used to help flip it |
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| Chips mayai was definitely the easiest of the three Tanzanian foods to cook. To eat chips mayai properly, street food style, either use your hands or a couple of toothpicks to tear the omelette apart and then spear into your mouth. Looks good, huh? ;) |
So there you have it! I'm excited to return back to the US to share these dishes. They've been an indispensable part of my time in Tanzania and I want to spread the goodness. If you have it in you I would definitely suggest trying the recipes for yourself. After all, I'm not much of a cook and everything turned out edible.
Hope you all enjoyed!
