Eighteenth Century Kitchen


Nairobi Museum of Natural History 1997. 		Swahili
  1. jiwe la kupazia - round stone used to grind grains
  2. jiwe la kusaga dawa - oblong stone used to grind spices
  3. kinu cha tamei - wooden vermicelli squeezer
  4. kinu - small mortar and pestle
  5. mbuzi - wooden stool with blade to grate coconut
  6. uteo - round winnowing basket and kifumbu - leaf strainer used to squeeze juice from grated coconut
  7. mtungi - water storage pot

Recipes

Recipes included meat or fish cooked with rice and coconut juice and breads, made with various grains. Spices used in cooking included cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, curry, ginger and pepper.

Beef and Spinach in Coconut Cream

You would have to grind your ginger with the jiwe la kusaga dawa, grate your coconut on the mbuzi and strain the coconut milk with the kifumbu.

Ingredients:

fillet steak cut in small pieces
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 tablespoons oil
salt and pepper (to taste)		 1 cup water
4 cups cooked spinach, drained and chopped
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons coconut cream

Toss meat in ginger and pan-fry in oil until browned. Add salt, pepper and water, simmer until meat is tender. Drain liquid. Melt butter, add spinach and mix well. Add meat and coconut cream. Serve hot with ugali.

Ugali

The finer the cornmeal, the longer the time spent grinding it on the jiwe la kupazia.

Ingredients:

4 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup cornmeal finely ground

In the top of a double boiler bring the water and salt to a boil. Gradually add the cornmeal, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened. Set the pot over boiling water and simmer for about 45 minutes. Spread the mixture evenly on a flat dish and cool. Cut into squares or oblongs and saute in in butter and serve.

Banana Salad

The chutney sounds like a colonial addition, and a modern concession is the mayonnaise.

5 tablespoons cold boiled rice
2 peeled bananas, sliced
2 peeled and deseeded tomatoes, chopped
1 onion finely chopped		 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
salt, sugar and curry powder (to taste)
lemon juice (to taste)
2 tablespoons mango chutney

Combine all ingredients except chutney. Serve as a filling for halved coconuts, pineapple or avocado. Top with chutney.

Yoghurt

Home made yoghurt is a delight to the palate, and easy. (That's for me)! The secret is, the temperature of the milk when you add the culture, -- too hot and the culture dies, too cold and it doesn't grow.

Scald 1 quart milk and cool to 115 - 130 degrees F. Pour into mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon live culture per cup. (Dannon Plain Yoghurt has live cultures). Mix gently and completely. Cover bowl and keep in the oven with the pilot light on (or warm place) for 8-10 hours. Refrigerate to stop growth.

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Content copyright © 1997 Joan A. Andersen;
Revised: 18 February 1997
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