Cooking Tanzanian Style
As part of our language and culture learning, last week we got a chance to our hands dirty in the kitchen. Since we haven’t had much control over what we eat, it was nice to cook again (we can’t complain too much about it though, not having to think of our meals has been good too). Everything we made, we made from scratch. This included the chicken which arrived alive and kicking. In fact, at one point we had to chase one down that was trying to escape for it’s life. Alas, she was unsuccessful. We’ll start here, sparing you the gory stuff. Loretta helped pluck the chickens. To do this they were bathed in hot water. Honestly, I thought this would be more gross than cutting off a chicken’s head. Our friend Rachel, who will also be working in Mbeya, and Loretta plucking away. Ishmael carefully taking the skin off the feet. Tanzanians like chicken feet too! To get the last of the stingy feathers, Moshi sears the bird. Next, it’s time to gut. A few of these chickens actually had eggs inside. Apparently the shell hardens once it makes contact with air. These eggs were fertalized. Sorry baby chicks… Ready to be cooked :( Let’s move on to the vegetables…and the chicken-foot-shaped carrot. On the right, “mchicha”, a common green leafy vegetable. There was a fair bit of pounding of ginger for the chai we made. I can’t remember what this is called, but the description I could give it is a ‘Tanzanian Timbit’. It’s amazing that just about everything in this kitchen is cooked by charcol. Including the baking of the cakes! Removing the chaff from the rice…fail. One of the highlights of my morning was learning how to make coconut milk. The final touches and an awesome lunch. More here.
