Introducing Our Food Stories Podcast

December 8, 2021 ~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

Welcome to Our Food Stories: A community podcast by Ugandans for Ugandans sharing food stories from all over the country. Our Food Stories is a show, hosted by A Kitchen in Uganda, about our food and owning and telling our stories of it. It is about how food is not only fuel for the body but a means for most to build community, culture and even identity. As a way to preserve our indigenous foodways, each episode will have a unique guest who will talk about food stories passed down to them by generations past.

Ever wanted to know more about Ugandan food? Ever wanted to hear food stories of generations past and how some of your favorite foods came to be? I am so excited for you to finally listen to Our Food Stories! This podcast was born out of a need to dig deeper and learn more about the food that bonds us as a country. After many months of planning and reaching out to you, it is my greatest joy to finally share this podcast with the world.

The purpose of this podcast is to share food stories, educate, share knowledge and inspire foodies. This podcast is for story lovers and tellers, food historians, foodies, anthropologists and everyone in between. New episodes will be released every two weeks. You can binge listen to the first 3 episodes right now by clicking here.

Because this is a community podcast, any and everyone that is Ugandan and has an interesting food story to share can contribute to the podcast by sending an email to: contact@akitcheninuganda.com with the subject line: My Food Story so that we can share details on how to contribute. You can also send us a DM to @akitcheninuganda on Instagram to contribute to this podcast.

Connect with us on the socials using #ourfoodstoriesUg and let us know what you think of the podcast so far.

Listen to the podcast on:

Afripods

Subscribe to the podcast and stay tuned for more stories coming your way. Don’t forget to leave us a review on Apple podcasts!

How to Make Posho/ Ugali Using Rice Video

December 4, 2020December 6, 2020 ~ Sophie ~ 4 Comments

Learn how to make mock posho/ugali using rice. This posho, served with a delicious rich and hearty stew, almost passes for the real one.

If you have been to most parts of East and Southern Africa, you will notice that maize is a popular ingredient in our diet. So much so that we pride ourselves in having multiple variations regionally. I remember my childhood dotted with multiple trips to the family garden to plant, weed and harvest this maize and then gleefully roast it by the fire or steam it overnight to be eaten as breakfast. In Fact if you have passed through the boarding school system (an educational system left behind by the colonial legacy and a type of rite of passage) on the continent, then you know that maize is on the menu 7 days a week, all school year. Rinse and repeat. Now imagine my utter shock and surprise when I realized that maize as we know it is not native to Africa. It was introduced through the transatlantic trade. It made me think of how a crop once foreign has seeped into the fabric of what we call society now. So much so that we cannot isolate ourselves from it. So as an adult I found myself craving this posho, something I once distasted in my younger years, that I decided to make a version of it using rice while in the diaspora. You will be amazed at how it almost tastes like actual posho. And with a rich hearty stew, this posho will hit all the right spots.

Posho Rice Recipe

What you will need:

3 C. Rice

Water

Observations:

Make sure to use rice that is well sorted.
Use short grain (regular) rice
You can use a ratio of 2:1 of white rice to brown rice to achieve brown posho.
You can reduce the rice in half f you are cooking for a lesser number of people.
If you want the posho to be a bit coarse, blend your rice well but not entirely smooth.
If you find your posho a bit hard and would like to water it down, add about a cup of water to the cooking posho, cover the pan and let the water come to a gentle boil, remove the lid and continue mingling to achieve your a desired thickness.

Method

Soak rice in water for 6+ hours or overnight.
Wash the rice and drain the water.
Add the soaked rice in a blender and add enough water to cover the rice.
Blend till smooth.
Place a pot/pan with 2 cups of water on fire and let it come to a boil.
Add your smoothly blended rice to the boiling water. Stir the rice continuously to avoid the formation of lumps.
The rice will start to thicken as you stir and eventually harden.
keep mixing using the cut and fold method to mingle the posho until a firm meal is formed. This can take from 10-15 minutes.
Reduce your fire, cover the pot and let the posho simmer for another 5 minutes.
Remove from fire and serve with your favorite rich hearty stew like this one, this one, this one, this one, or this one.

This is the last post for the year 2020! Thank you for always supporting this blog. See you in February of 2021. Happy holidays and a Happy New Year in Advance!

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How to Cook Maleewa (Smoked Bamboo Shoots) video

August 2, 2020August 2, 2020 ~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

Maleewa: Ugandan smoked bamboo shoots native to the Bugisu region in Uganda. A detailed video showing you how to prepare this delicacy as stew.

Maleewa. This lesser known but essential food is a staple in eastern Uganda among the Bugisu region. The bamboo trees that grow around Mountain Elgon are harvested when still tender. They are then smoked and dried for preservation. Maleewa is believed to aid in longevity and people who eat it live longer because of its nutritious value. Because of this belief, it is served to every special visitor as a sign of respect and love and on special occasion such as weddings. Maleewa is usually cooked with either groundnut paste or simsim (sesame) paste. Preparing maleewa is not hard although the process is detailed. In order to make it easier to understand the process of preparing maleewa for cooking, I made this video below.

What you will need:

Maleewa shoots (about 2-3)

Groundnut paste (about half a cup)

1 Tsp. Baking Soda/ Rock salt

Salt

1 Tsp. Curry powder

1/2 Tsp. Black pepper (optional)

Observations

Washing the maleewa till the water is clear removes the extra smokiness that may cause it to become bitter.
Do not discard the hard parts/nodes of the bamboo. Instead use them alongside other vegetables to make vegetable stock. They add a unique smoky flavor.
Depending on the size of the maleewa, one shoot can yield about a cup of chopped maleewa to cook with.
Since groundnut stew is sensitive, it is minimally flavored. I only used curry powder, salt and pepper. You can flavor it however you want.

Method

Add water in a large bowl/ pot. Add the baking soda/ rock salt. submerge your dried smoked maleewa and let it soak for about 3 hours. It can soak over night as well.
After 3 hours, remove the maleewa from the soda water. Wash the maleewa gently until the water is clear. This can take up to 4 washes. Once the water is clear, drain the maleewa.
Cut the soft parts of the maleewa while skipping the hard nodes. Slice the maleewa however you want to and set a side.
Prepare your groundnut paste for cooking. Watch this video to see how it is made.
Once the groundnut stew starts to simmer, add the maleewa, curry powder, salt and black pepper and stir well. Let the stew simmer until it has reduced down to a thick richness.
Remove from fire and serve with your favorite starch.

Have you ever had maleewa before? If yes, what was your experience. Leave a comment below.

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