Orientation for East Africa Program Lewis and Clark College Spring 2006 Richard Peck

Links to a few external sites with Swahili Recipes (no guarantees from author of this page):

• A seafood recipe from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/php/recipes.php?dish=swahili/swahili_recipes_lo.html
• Four Swahili recipes here: http://www.africaguide.com/cooking.htm
• A fancy wedding recipe (chicken Biriyani) here: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/food_and_drink/article_867.shtml
• A nice variety of Zanzibari recipes (click on links on the left): http://www.zanzinet.org/recipes/cuisines.html
• NOT SWAHILI but very, very East African: a recipe for Ugali (an African version of polenta -- or cornmeal mush -- but who would want to eat it with that pedestrian translation?): http://www.tanserve.com/trivia/index_files/food.htm (The Swahili would be much, much more likely to eat rice as the starch part of their meal.)
• One recipe for Chicken in coconut sauce: http://www.familycookbookproject.com/view_recipesite.asp?rid=2458779&uid=43523&sid=93223
• Recipe for Fish in Coconut sauce: http://www.whats4eats.com/fish/mtuzi-wa-samaki-recipe

Recipes reproduced here from Recipes from the Kenya Coast, by Samira Hyder (Nairobi: Longman Kenya Ltd., 1976), and A Lamu Cookbook by Fatma Shapi and Katie Halford (Lamu Kenya: The Lamu Society, n.d., but after 1980). Modified for American kitchens by Richard Peck

Coriander This means fresh coriander, which is the same thing as cilantro, sometimes called Chinese parsley. It is now available in the produce sections of most grocery stores in the US.

Chillis Jalapeño peppers will do fine. They should preferably be fresh, but pickled jalapeños will do if you can't find fresh ones. (For the latter look in the Mexican section of your grocery store for jars that say "Jalapeños en escabeche.") In a pinch you can even use red pepper flakes, found in spice sections of supermarkets, perhaps a half teaspoon for each chilli called for.

SEM, FEM See the first recipe below. These terms are idiosyncratic to this recipe book. These days it is hardly worth the bother to make coconut milk (whether SEM or FEM) when the recipe calls for it. One can use instead canned UNSWEETENED coconut milk. (Do not use the sweetened coconut milk which is sold with mixers for making piña colada.) This can be purchased in most Asian grocery stores, or in the Asian food sections of large supermarkets. Canned coconut milk is about the same thickness as FEM; for SEM dilute it with about an equal amount of water.

The Recipes

4 cups coconut milk (about 1 can coconut milk and water to bring the quantity up to the four cups)

2 cups rice
1 tsp. salt

Clean and wash rice. Bring the coconut milk to boil. When boiling, pour in the rice. Add salt. Leave to cook on medium heat. When nearly dry, cover well. Turn down the heat and leave to cook for 10 minutes. (If you have a rice cooker, put all of the ingredients in the rice cooker and turn it on. Watch it to make sure it does not burn, adding more water if needed to keep it from burning.)

Serve hot with curry or other main dishes.

[A minor variation of these snacks is known throughout most of Kenya as "Maandazi." They are a favorite snack just about everywhere in Kenya, especially dunked in a hot and sugary milk-tea. This version, distinguished by its delicate spices, is the staple bread of Swahili people, and some housewives make it every morning for breakfast. It can be eaten cold or re-heated for dinner. It can be eaten with butter or without any accompaniment.]

1.1 lbs plain white flour (This is 3 ¾ cups less 2 Tablespoons, or 500 grams for those with a scale.)
½ cups sugar, or a little more if you like them sweeter
2 teaspoons ghee or butter or margarine
1 teaspoon yeast diluted in a little warm water
1 ¼ cups milk
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom seeds (optional but highly recommended) – or to make the taste even fresher, use a mortar and pestle to mash down the seeds you have removed from 5 or 6 cardamom pods.
oil for deep frying

Thoroughly knead flour, sugar, cardamom, ghee, milk and yeast solution to form a dough. Knead until the dough is smooth and blistered. Let it rise once, for a couple of hours in a warm place. Divide into 4 balls. Roll each ball into a 6" circle. Cut into quarters. Put well apart on a floured board or paper and keep in a warm room for about 2 hours or until the dough is risen and becomes light.

Deep fry both sides in oil till brown. They should be a light, golden brown, not too brown.

Serve hot with curry, or cold with tea, or whenever. See variations and hints on next page

Variations and hints:

• For the 1 ¼ cups of milk, substitute about half and half yogurt and coconut milk, or all yogurt might be worth trying
• Add as part of the liquid some warm water in which you have soaked several strands of saffron
• Seems to work fine if you leave out the ghee/margarine
• Make in breadmaker for the first rising and a little longer (about two hours) by putting yeast in first, then all the liquids (warmed up a bit in the microwave if they have been in the refrigerator), then all the dry ingredients. Watch as it mixes for a while, and add a bit more liquid if it seems too dry a ball. Then take the dough ball out of breadmaker, roll out the balls and cut into quarters, then put in warm oven covered with damp cloth to rise for the last couple of hours. (Warm oven means you turn oven on to warm temperature for a while, then turn it off, then put dough in to rise.}
• For deep fat frying, get temperature of the oil to 300 degrees Farenheit on the thermometer, and adjust flame from time to time to keep it very close to that level. 

  ---

1 pound of lean beef stewing meat
2 onions pounded or very finely chopped
2 pounded chillis (see note above)
2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. black pepper
3 cups water (use more if you have very tough beef, less if your beef is very tender)
salt to taste

Cut meat in cubes and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Cook on medium heat till meat is tender. Add a little water if meat is not cooked tender by the time the sauce is virtually dry. Cook until all stock is dry and fry the meat in the remaining fat for a few minutes.

Serve hot with rice or any main dish

1 Tbsp. ghee or vegetable oil
2 sliced onions
3 crushed cloves of garlic
1 tsp. curry powder
2 sliced tomatoes
1 tsp. tomato puree
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh coriander
1 pound of filleted fish
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water

Fry onions in ghee or vegetable oil until brown. Add garlic and curry powder. Stirring vigorously, cook for 1 minute on medium heat. Add tomatoes, tomato puree, fresh coriander; cook for another minute. Add fish, lemon juice, salt, and water. Cover and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes

Serve hot with rice.

1 chicken
enough water to boil chicken
salt to taste
2 Tbsp. ghee or vegetable oil
2 medium-sized sliced onions
1 tsp. curry powder
4 crushed cloves of garlic
1 tsp. crushed fresh ginger
a little fresh coriander chopped
2 medium-sized sliced tomatoes (canned tomatoes would work fine)
2 Tbsp. tomato puree
4 pounds of peeled potatoes
2 chillis chopped
juice of two lemons (about 4 Tbs, if you are using canned lemon juice)
3 cups coconut milk from 1 coconut (about 1 can of coconut milk plus water to make up 3 cups in total)

Clean chicken and cut in pieces. Add salt and boil in enough water till cooked. Leave aside.
Heat ghee or vegetable oil in a cooking pot and fry onions. Add curry powder, garlic, ginger, coriander. Fry, stirring constantly for a minute or so, then add tomatoes and tomato puree. Keep stirring. Cook till tomatoes are soft (not necessary if canned tomatoes were used). Add the potatoes and chillis and a cup or so of stock left from chicken. Add lemon juice and coconut milk. Cook till thick. Add in the chicken and heat to warm it up.

Variation: Double the chicken and leave out the potatoes. You may also leave out the coriander if you can't find it or don't like the flavor.

Serve hot with rice.

1 chicken, cut in pieces
juice of two limes (4 Tbs if you are using bottled lime juice)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 jalapeños
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 small onion, cut in quarters
salt to taste

Place all ingredients except chicken in blender or food processor and blend until finely chopped. Spread the resulting mixture over the chicken and let it stand for 20 to 30 minutes (or even longer).

Barbecue the cheicken over a charcoal fire, medium heat, until it is cooked.

Serve hot with salad and rice or potatoes.

1/4 cup ghee or salad oil
1 cup sliced onions
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
5 crushed cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp. crushed (or finely diced) fresh ginger (optional)
1 chopped sweet pepper (optional)
3 sliced tomatoes (canned tomatoes would be fine)
1 Tbsp. tomato puree
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 pound lean ground beef
a little chopped coriander (optional)
1 1/2 cups water
salt to taste

Fry onions till brown. Mix in curry powder than garlic, ginger, sweet pepper and tomatoes. Cook and keep on stirring well till tomatoes are soft (or until green pepper is soft if you used canned tomatoes). Add tomato puree, cinnamon, meat and coriander. Stir well. Add water and salt. Cover the pot and leave to cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.

Serve hot with vegetables and rice or mahamri.

[This is a relatively easy recipe, although rolling out the meat balls takes some considerable time. It is a huge recipe, so you might want to cut it in half.]

Meat Mixture

2 pounds lean ground beef
3 onions, finely minced
1 small bulb of garlic (or 4 or 5 reasonable-sized cloves of garlic) -- peeled
2 teaspoons of grated fresh ginger
4 limes (or about 8 tablespoons of bottled lime juice)
black peppercorns
salt

1 pound of onions, finely sliced
a little salad oil or ghee
1 pound of ripe tomatoes, sliced (canned tomatoes are fine)
1/2 pound of sweet green peppers, sliced
1 small can tomato paste
1 small bulb of garlic (or 4 or 5 reasonable-sized cloves of garlic) -- peeled
2 teaspoons of grated fresh ginger
1 small hot chilli pepper, minced finely (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a handful of fresh coriander -- chopped
1 teaspoon of cardamom pods -- crushed
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

Pound the peeled garlic, ginger, and black pepper into a smooth paste with the lime juice, adding salt to taste. Put the ground beef into a large bowl and thoroughly mix in the onions and the garlic/ginger mixture. Form into small balls. Spread out on a tray and put into the refrigerator to chill (to prevent the balls breaking up in the sauce).

To make the sauce

Brown the onions in the oil. When nearly cooked add the crushed garlic and ginger. Fry another few minutes, then stir in cumin seeds and crushed cardamoms. If the chilli pepper is used, add it now. Add sliced tomatoes and greeen peppers. Continue cooking slowly and stirring carefully over gentle heat. The result, a thick fragrant sauce, should be thinned a little with water and the can of tomato paste added to make enough liquid in which to cook the meat balls. Drop meat balls in one at a time and let them simmer over a very slow heat until ready. Add salt and pepper to taste and the chopped up coriander. Cover and cook for another five minutes.

Serve with rice.

3 large sliced tomatoes
1 finely chopped onion
1 crushed clove of garlic
juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tbs if you are using bottled lime juice)
salt and pepper

Arrange sliced tomatoes and onions on a salad plate. Mix well together garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper. Pour this dressing over tomatoes and onion.

Serve with rice and curry.

EGG CARAMEL
Pudini ya Mayai

A Swahili version of a Flan

1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds
1/4 cup raisins

Brown 1/2 cup sugar on low heat in a small pan, being careful not to scorch it. Beat eggs well together with the remaining ingredients. Pour the egg mixture over the caramelized sugar. Cover well and steam for 20 to 30 minutes until firm. Leave to cool. Pour the caramel out carefully. Serve as dessert.

2 bunches chopped spinach (or one small box -- 10-12 oz. --frozen spinach)
water for boiling (about 2 cups)
2 coconuts to give 1 cup FEM and 1 cup SEM (or 1 can coconut milk plus water to make 2 cups total liquid)
1 sliced onion
2 whole green chillis
2 sliced tomatoes (canned tomatoes would work fine)
salt to taste

If you are using fresh spinach, wash it well, then boil it in water till tender. Drain. If you are using frozen spinach, skip this step.

Put in one pot the cooked and drained spinach or the frozen spinach, the SEM and all other ingredients except FEM. When dry, add FEM and cook till dry again. If you are using canned coconut milk, add coconut milk and water at the beginning and cook until reasonably thick.

Serve hot with rice and meat.

1/4 cup cooking oil
1 chopped onion
1 chopped cauliflower
1 tsp. curry powder
3 sliced tomatoes
salt to taste
1/2 cup water

Fry onions. When brown add all the ingredients except water. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add water. Cover and cook till tender and all the stock is dry.

Serve hot as a vegetable dish

3 very finely sliced onions
4 sliced tomatoes
1 cup vinegar
2 chopped green chillis (optional)
salt to taste

Soak the onions for a few minutes in a little salt and water reaching into the liquid to squeeze the onions hard. Drain off the water and squeeze the onions again to release more of their juices, which should also be drained off. Repeat that process if you have time. (Repeating it two or three times will remove most of the bite from the onions but leave a nice flavor.) Add the rest of the ingredients.

Serve with rice dishes.

Variation: Add a little chopped coriander leaves if you like that flavor. The original recipe said "serve with rice dishes" but it is nice with almost any dish. The onions lose most of their bite from the soaking and squeezing treatment.

1 huge onion (or the equivalent in smaller onions), thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of ghee or vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon of curry powder
3 chopped tomatoes (or 1 16-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes)
1 coconut to give 2 cups of FEM (or 1 14-oz can coconut milk)
2 whole jalapeños, thinly sliced (take the seeds out if you like less spicy food)
salt to taste (try about 1/2 tsp at first)
juice of 1 lemon (2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice)
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled; or the equivalent weight or size of fried tofu bean-curd [about 1 1/2 blocks], available in most food markets

Fry the onions and the garlic in the ghee or vegetable oil until the onions are soft. Add the curry powder and cook for about two minutes (just to heat it up and change its flavor a little). Add the tomatoes at this stage if you are using fresh tomatoes and let them soften up a little. Otherwise, add canned tomatoes and all the rest of the ingredients except for the eggs or tofu. Boil the mixture until it is as thick as you like it, taking care as it gets thicker that it does not burn on the bottom of the pot. Add the eggs or tofu and leave on the heat until the eggs or tofu have warmed up.

Serve over rice.