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Jikoni

Sous Chef
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
865
Location
Kenya and Switzerland
Any African's out there? I will post my favorite chicken in coconut sauce, known in Kenya as Kuku wa Kupaka

Chicken in coconut sauce

Any meaty parts of chicken on the bone (I use chicken drumsticks)
Fresh garlic(three cloves depending on how much you love garlic!)
Ginger paste(according to taste too)
Half green chilli
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups coconut milk
1 small finely chopped onion
I tinned tomato
salt to taste
chopped dhania(fresh coriander)for garnishing


Method
Marinate the chicken pieces in garlic, ginger, chillies, lemon juice, (I put all in a blender to make a paste) and a tablespoon oil and leave for 1 - 2 hours. Saute finely chopped onion in oil, add tomatos and mix thoroughly on a medium heat. Add fresh chillies, lemon juice and coconut milk and stir all the time to make a thick gravy on a low heat. Then, separately Roast chicken pieces until they are cooked.Then place the chicken in a dish, pour the thick coconut sauce over the roasted chicken and again put the dish in the oven for 10 minutes basting the chicken with the gravy from time to time.this can be served with
rice and chapati, and garnish with chopped coriander.:chef:
 
Sizzles I have been waiting for you to post some Kenyan recipe, I am not familiar with African cuisine and have been curious.... and the first encounter here seems mighty good!!:-p :-p :-p

A little while ago we bought a bag of "Gari" (cassava flakes) out of curiosity, but we are still not sure exactly what to do with it... do you have any suggestions??
 
Thank you for the recipe Sizzles...can you substitute anything for the coconut milk? We don't have it around here...Thanks![/QUOTE]

You can try cream, but then it means you would have to call it 'Chicken in cream sauce' Try some asian shops around you for coconut milk.This recipe is from the Kenyan coast hence the coconut. Nearly everything is cooked in coconut.
 
urmaniac13 said:
Sizzles I have been waiting for you to post some Kenyan recipe, I am not familiar with African cuisine and have been curious.... and the first encounter here seems mighty good!!:-p :-p :-p

A little while ago we bought a bag of "Gari" (cassava flakes) out of curiosity, but we are still not sure exactly what to do with it... do you have any suggestions??

Thanks Urmaniac13. I will post some more recipes. Meanwhile about the cassava flakes, there are some west african recipes that use them but none that I know of in Kenya. We just boil the whole cassava then when ready take out the outer skin and eat it. I like it with tea as a substitute for bread.
 
Irio

This dish originated from Central Kenya but has been adapted by other communities.
2 green corn cobs
about 400 gr beans
4 potatoes
2 cups chopped spinach(or pumpkin leaves)
Salt and pepper
Cut the kernels off the green corn cob. Boil the corn with the beans until soft. Peel and wash the potatoes and add the corn and the beans along with the chopped spinach. Boil together until the potatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper and mash.Traditionally served with stew.

Instead of having mashed potatoes all the time I vary it by making irio.
 
sizzles said:
Thanks Urmaniac13. I will post some more recipes. Meanwhile about the cassava flakes, there are some west african recipes that use them but none that I know of in Kenya. We just boil the whole cassava then when ready take out the outer skin and eat it. I like it with tea as a substitute for bread.

Okay sizzles, sorry I think I exposed my ignorance, I should have known the Kenyan cuisine and the west african cuisine must be very different... anyway what does whole cassava taste like? are they like potatoes?
 
Thanks Sizzles for the information, now I am thinking maybe we can create a dish a little like polenta with some sauce. It is really interesting to learn about new kind of cuisine!!
 
Urmaniac13, Glad you are enjoying Kenyan cuisine:)I love creating dishes, and trying out new things all the time. What shall we call this sauce we are creating?????????????? !!!!!!!!!!!
:D I usually cook polenta seperately then prepare a sauce or stew separately. This probably comes from the fact that polenta is similar to Kenyan staple diet 'Ugali' which comes with a separate sauce or stew. (I will post an Ugali recipe sometime)anyway, let me know how we can do this.Sounds like fun. Let's think should it be spicy or not, coconutty or not.
 
Yes we usually prepare sauces and polenta separately. For the sauce I was thinking of a brown gravy like sauce loaded with mixed mushrooms which we enjoyed while we were in Northern Italy this summer (it is a region also very close to switzerland, and polenta is very popular there)... But it maybe nice to stick as much to the african theme as possible while we are using an african ingredient.. what kind of sauce do you use to eat "Ugali" with? Do you have some suggestion for something coconutty? (Cris would prefer something on the milder side, not too spicy...)
 
Ugali

Maize (White Corn Flour) about 2 cups
Water
Salt (Optional)


Bring water in a pan to a boil (about 4 Cups). Reduce heat to medium and put flour, gradually stirring until the consistency is stiff. Stir continuously, and cover for about 5 minutes. Stir again and form into a mound. The Ugali will be done when it pulls from the sides of the pan easily and does not stick. The finished product should look like stiff grits. Cover the pot with a plate and invert the pan so that the Ugali "drops" on the plate. Serve with stew.
 
Last edited:
Nyama Keema

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo minced beef
2 tomatoes
1 onion (medium size)
oil
6 whole black peppers
6 cloves
3 Cardamom pods
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1tsp dhania(Fresh coriander)
salt according to taste.
1/4tsp Tumeric
3/4tsp chili powder
2tbs yogurt
1/2tsp ginger
1/4tsp crushed garlic
Instructions:
Finely chop the onion and saute in oil until light brown. Add all the spices including yogurt and finely chopped tomatoes. Cook on medium heat till water is almost dried. Add mince meat mix and dry the water again. Then add water, cover and leave to tenderize and water dries. Enjoy it with coconut rice or ugali
 
Whoa, Ugali is indeed quite similar to polenta, isn't it!! It is really interesting that in different parts of the world the very similar idea can occur to minds of different people... I also noticed that some of the recipes you posted have some characteristics of Indian cooking as well, I got that impression with some blend of ingredients, spices in particular. Did the eastern africans have some trading history with India in the past? Or it is just the similar climate that brought out the similar method? Anyway your idea of the stew sounds really good for our cassava flakes... thanks as always for a great recipe!!:)
 
Yes, Ugali is very much like polenta. Some Kenyan cooking has been influenced a lot by indian cooking especially the use of spices. During the building of the railway(Kenya-Uganda railway)Indians were brought it to work on the railway, they then stayed and made Kenya their home, hence spicing us up!People from the coast used spices like cloves as there were huge clove farms on Zanzibar Island. Hey, stop me, this is not a history forum!
 
Cassava is also called Yucca and in many places (like here) you can find it in your regular supermarket.

Kaylinda, do you have a large supermarket or an asian store within reach? If so, you probably can find cocnut milk. If not, PM me. I'd hate for you to go on without it.

Sizzles ... AWESOME recipes! Thanks

And the history is very interesting!
 
Last edited:
sizzles said:
Yes, Ugali is very much like polenta. Some Kenyan cooking has been influenced a lot by indian cooking especially the use of spices. During the building of the railway(Kenya-Uganda railway)Indians were brought it to work on the railway, they then stayed and made Kenya their home, hence spicing us up!People from the coast used spices like cloves as there were huge clove farms on Zanzibar Island. Hey, stop me, this is not a history forum!

Thanks for sharing the story behind the Kenyan cooking Sizzles!! It is always interesting and intriguing to learn the history behind each regional cuisine, it helps a lot to understand them:)
 
Zanzibar Coffee

Having spoken of Zanzibar, I thought I might give you a taste of Zanzibar. Something hot to keep you warm in the winter.

3 cups water, 3 cracked cardamon pods,3 cloves 6 tsps freshly ground coffee, half tsp freshly ground ginger, half tsp ground nutmeg.Boil water with cardamon pods, add coffee and boil for a further 5 mins, then add the rest of the spices and serve piping hot. Sieve before serving.
 
Hiya sizzles. Your recipes are very interesting to me. I wonder how you are faring in finding the ingredients for these dishes in Switzerland.
 
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