Ugali

Last night was the ugali adventure. Compared to beans and plantains, ugali is a piece of cake! I got a recipe from online that is pictured above--that single page is all it takes. I'm not sure if cornmeal flour is available in the US but, dear readers, you should try making it. For those of you who have been to South Africa, too, this is the same as pap or mealie pap. I boiled my water, added the salt, and had my two cups of cornmeal flour ready to "stir in slowly, letting it fall through the fingers of your hand." (I picked this recipe because that seemed "authentic" to me, for some reason).

Letting it pour through my fingers lasted through about the first half of the first cup: I dumped it in slowly after that. After I dumped it I was a little worried that it would hurt the recipe somehow, but I can't see that it's had any negative effects at all. Also, a thick-bottomed saucepan is not required--I used the same aluminum bowl as I did for beans (since it's the only one I have to cook with). I think it's hard to screw up ugali. The recipe says stir until the mush pulls away from the sides of the pot, and by the end it started feeling like I was stirring concrete--ugali is pretty solid stuff! I'm not sure whether it actually took 10 minutes or not, but it did started pulling away from the side of the pot in an easily identifiable way.

It looks like mashed potatoes but it is not light, nor fluffy, and I didn't put any butter in (but did put salt in). Ugali is stiff, so it can actually be cut like bread, and tastes delicious! My Kenyan friend here says ugali is a staple for her, so she's going to try some of mine during lunch. I told her that even if I didn't make it right, it's edible and I like it, so I'm not too poorly off.

Yum. Now I really need to find a good sauce recipe.

Ugali
Water: 4 cups
Salt: 2 teaspoons
White cornmeal, finely ground: 2 cups

1. Bring water and salt to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the cornmeal slowly, letting it fall through the fingers of your hand.
2. Reduce head to medium-low and stir regularly until mush pulls away from the sides of the pan (approximately 10 minutes)
3. Allow to cool.