JUAN'S PUMPKIN LEEK GINGERED SOUP

·         Ingredients:

o   2 cups   pumpkin, boiled and smashed.

o   1 medium size ginger, skinned, crushed and finely chopped.

o   2 inches long leeks  trunk,  finely chopped

o   Salt to taste

o   5  cups of water

Procedure

v  Put the pot in  stove  and boiled the 5 cups of water

v  Add the  smashed pumpkin and  stir it slowly

v  Then add the ginger in the  boiling pumpkin and the salt to taste

v  Add  the leeks, continue to stir it for another five minutes

v  Serve   while it is hot in a soup bowl, it  is goof for four servings.

AVOCADO SALAD

It is avocado season and due to the health benefits of avocádo it is highly recommended  for everyone. There are many ways of preparing the avocados from simple to the most sophisticated avocado dish like avocado ice cream  or guacamole. below, I will share with you how to prepare avocado salad in 5 minutes!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pc  ripe evergreen avocado
1 pc onion
2 pcs lettuce leaves
2 pcs ripe tomatoes

• Cut the avocado in halves and remove the  seeds and the skin  and cut the halves avocado diagonally
• Chop the onions thinly
• Slice the lettuce leaves into strips
• Cut the tomatoes 
• Arrange  the ingredients in the platter
• Set it aside, then prepare your dressings.

Dressing

2 tbl spoons honey
3 tbl spoons lemon juice
1/2  tbl spoon  salt
1/2  tbl spoon black  pepper crushed
1 tbl spoon of extra olive oil

• Mix all the ingredients in the bowl until the salt is melted and integrated with honey, lemon and the black pepper.
• Then add to the mixture the olive oil until it is blended with the mixture
• Pour slowly and spread evenly on the top of the ingredients on the platter.
• Then serve it on the table

HOT SWEET PILI PILI PASTE

One of the thing that I learned to  love in Tanzania is to eat pili pili mbozi, the Swahili hot chillies. I love it in  my  kachumbari, supo,  pasta, nyama choma, and almost in anything that I eat including in my green mango  enchilada (salad) and chipsi mayai. Pili pili ho ho is available all year round  in parts of the country from the  Isles to the Mainland.  Economically, when you make your own chili paste it is 80 percent cheaper that the commercially produce  ones that you will buy from the supermarkets. So, it is more economical. Health wise, it contains  an alkaloid compound , capsaicin, which gives strong spicy pungent character. Early laboratory studies on experimental mammals suggest that capsaicin has anti-bacterial, anti-carcinogenic, analgesic and anti-diabetic properties. It also found to reduce LDL cholesterol levels in obese individuals. Chili peppers have amazingly high levels of vitamins and minerals.

African winter is fast approaching and to keep  us warm, I am sharing you  my  hot, sweet pilipili paste.

Ingredients:

¼ kg of pilipili mbozi (hot pepper), thinly sliced

3 table spoon of brown sugar

2 table spoon of crystal salt

4 table spoon vegetable oil

Procedure:

·        Pour the vegetable oil in the sauce pan until it is hot.

·        Put the pilipili mbozi in the pan and cover until the skin of the pilipili separate.

·        Add sugar and the salt together until it is dissolve under low flame.

·        Continue stirring it slowly that it will start to thicken  for 10 mi it minutes

·        Let it cool and transfer in a sterilize glass jar and cover it.

·        Viola! You have now a hot and sweet pilipili mbozi paste for your salads, cookings, and snacks!

SWEET AND SOUR TUNA IN LEMON SAUCE

Pemba, the northern Isles of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar is one of the places that I consider home.  Its location in the western side of the Indian Ocean in the East Africa Coast is blessings to us Pembans  (being an adopted son of the island), we the availability of  sea foods catch fresh from the sea. Privilege enough  I was given a house in between the wet market and fish market  both only three minutes walk frommy house  and I can easily avail and buy the anything that I like fresh from the sea daily base on a VSO volunteer’s allowance.

One of my favorite fish  is the tuna. In Pemba, all year round you can enjoy all sort of tuna from the yellow fin to the  blue fin species. One of the best thing about tuna is its flavor and the texture of its meat. Today, I will be sharing to you my  sweet  and sour tuna tuna in a lemon sauce.

Sweet and Sour Tuna in Lemon Sauce 

Ingredients

¼  kilo of tuna, cut in chunks

1   pinch of black pepper

1   pc. tomato, slide and dice into small quarters

1   tbl spoon Olive oil

¼  cup of honey ( sugar will do )

3   cloves garlic, freshly crush

½  cup of  lemon juice freshly extracted

½  onion, freshly chopped

PROCEDURE:

·   Marinate the tuna chunks  with  black pepper, salt and the lemon juice and chill it in the fridge for twenty minutes

·    Prepare your sauce pan in medium heat

·    Put the olive oil until  it becomes hot

·   Sautee' in the hot olive oil the garlic until it is brown, then add the tomatoes and the onions.

·    Add the marinated tuna on the pan, covered and simmer in a low flame

·  After five minutes, add the honey and stir it and cover it again for another ten minutes.

·   Take it from the pan and  put in a platter and viola!

It is best to serve it with a hot steaming white rice.

SPICY UYOGA

One of the privilege of living in Tanzania, particularly in Southern and Southern Highlands is the availability of food from the wild. During the onset of the rainy season, mushrooms sprouts almost anywhere in the fields. Here  in Tanzania, you will find here one of the world's tastiest mushroom edible species, the Termitomyces species. 

Living in a volunteer’s meager allowance, still I am fortunate enough to prepare a dish considered luxurious and only available in world’s finest and expensive restaurant in my own kitchen. Privilege enough to have it in abundance, it is sold in the fresh market by the vendors fresh. Below I will share with you, a very simple dish of preparing a mushroom dish that will cost you only less than dollar and can be prepare in a very short period of time. Less than the hassle of waiting a food prepared by a celebrity chef’s in your fancy restos in Paris, New York or Tokyo! Living in a volunteer’s meager allowance, still I am fortunate enough to prepare a dish considered luxurious and only available in world’s finest and expensive restaurant.  

            In Swahili, mushroom is known as ugoga. Thus the recipe that I share with you today is call Spicy Uyoga.

Spicy Ugoya

INGREDIENTS

·         1 bowl wild edible mushroom (uyoga)

·         1 pc  small size hot pepper ( pili pili hoho)

·          1 pc  small ginger (tangawizi)

·         5 pcs garlic

·         1 2 long  inches stalk of leeks

·         1 cup amaranth (mchicha)

Readily available in the sokoni (fresh market)

Edible mushroom, they call it in swahili as uyoga.

Amarath, locally known as mchicha.

Cooking Procedure

1.    Heat the sauce pan and  pour a  the cooking oil.

2.     Sautée the garlic until brown, then add the ginger, until it will become golden brown also.

3.    Add the tomatoes until  the skin start to separate, remove the  skin.

4.    Then add the mushroom, stir and mix and then add quarter of cup of water and cover it until it boils. Add the salt to taste. Simmer it for 10 minutes and then add the amaranth and cover the pan for another five minutes.

     Serve it with steam white rice (wali) or the famous local food ugali,  enjoy your rainy dinner.

COASTAL SWAHILI CUISINE

Your visit to Tanzanian coastal  areas from Tanga down to Mtwara in the south and from the  Zanzibar Archipelago will not be complete without tasting their  famous rice dishes, the Pilau and Biryani. These rice dishes was greatly influence by the Arabic and Indian cuisine. 

Pilau is usually serve with katchumbari

Ingredients of Pilau

• one-half teaspoon cumin seeds
• one-half teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• several whole cloves ("cloves" not "cloves of garlic")
• one cinnamon stick (or a few pinches ground cinnamon)
• a few cardamom pods (or a few pinches ground cardamom)
• oil for frying
• several cloves of garlic
• two teaspoons fresh ginger
• three cups of rice (uncooked)
• two to four onions, chopped
• one to two pounds of meat (beef, chicken, mutton, fish, shrimp, or prawns), cut into bite-sized pieces
• two to four potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• one cup raisins (optional)

Cooking procedure

• Cook the meat with salt and spices until when it is tender. Combine cumin, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom in a teacup, cover with warm water, stir, and set aside. (Cooking tip: The spices can be tied up in a small sack, like a tea bag, or can be put into a tea infuser before being placed in the warm water. This avoids having whole spices in the dish when it is served.)
• Pound the garlic and ginger together and set aside. Wash the rice, drain, and set aside.
• Heat oil in deep pot. Fry onions and potatoes until brown. Stir and remove some of the oil to reduce cholesterol. Add garlic and ginger. Continue stirring and frying until the flavors have mixed -- it should develop a nice aroma.
• Add the meat, stir and cook over high heat until meat is browned on the outside. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes. Remove the meat and potatoes, and set them aside. Add boiling water and the rice. Stir it thoroughly and add the watering spices. Stir. Wait five minutes. Cover and simmer for a few minutes. Stir occasionally.
• Check every few minutes to see if more water is needed and add water (or broth) as necessary. Stir as liquid is added. After ten minutes add the potatoes (and/or the optional raisins) and the meat and onions. Keep covered, keep checking, and add water if bottom of pot is dry. Continue cooking over low heat for ten more minutes.
• Remove pot from stove, keep covered. Place entire pot in warm oven for an additional ten to twenty minutes. All moisture should be absorbed by rice and potatoes should be tender. Serve hot.

Biryani is greatly influence by the arabic and indian cuisine. However, the Zanzibari biryani  has more leaning towards the   turkish biryani.

Ingredients of Biryani

• 10 ms dried Turkish saffron flowers
• 4 cloves garlic ( minced )
• 1 tea spoon minced fresh ginger
• 11/2 kg. Meat ( mutton, beef, goat, or chicken) cut into serving sized pieces
• 2 cups sour milk or plain yogurt
• 2 dl. Fresh lime juice
• 3 dl. Red vinagre
• 50 gms. Peeled almonds
• 4 hard cooked eggs
• 5 - 4 spoons ghee
• 1 kg. Fine sliced red onions
• 1 kg. Potatoes cut in big cubes
• Spices
  • ½ teaspoon cardamon grains
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 5 pcs. Cinnamon sticks
  • 1 tea spoon cumin seeds
  • 1 tea spoon coriander seeds
  • ½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• salt
• 3 spoons pilau masala mix
• 4 ripe peeled tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 5 cups of rice

Cooking  Procedure

• Heat oil in a large skillet. Deep fry the onions in hot oil until they are golden brown. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Deep fry the potatoes, in the same oil until golden brown. Remove the potatoes and set them aside. Do not throw the oil from the skillet, keep the oil, you will need it.
• Add the rice and salt.
• Boil the meat apart. Strain and keep aside.
• Saute all the spices using the oil from the skillet. Place the mixture in a large pot, add yogurt or buttermilk and lime juice, cover and let it to cook over low heat, stirring regularly. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and few spoonful of oil from the skillet. Stir and continue to cook over low heat. Add buljong from the cooked meat if sauce becomes too thick. Prepare to taste by checking salt, add meat, potatoes and red vinagre. Simmer the dish until the potatoes and the meat is cooked. Finnish the sauce by adding the dried saffron flowers.
• Cook rice in the usual way. ( one part rice to two parts water ) with a little bit of oil from the skillet. The meat should be done by the time the rice is cooked. Pre-heat oven to medium heat.
• Cover the Biriani sauce with the cooked rice. Mix 1 dl. Cold water with the remaining dried saffron , and pour it on the rice. Put some dried raisins , peeled almonds and insert cooked eggs in Biriani. Cover it and bake it a little bit in the oven, about twenty minutes before you serve it.
• Serve your Biriani hot with traditional Zanzibar Kachumbari.

Biryani of Salem Cafe in Wete, Pemba

In Wete, Pemba, the best biryani is served in Salem Cafe while the most delicious pilau is served in Afay Restaurant. In Unguja, Passing Shows serve the best biryani because  of it thick sauce and you can easily recognize the taste of the cloves  in it while Lukman's pilau is well recommended.

 Acknowledgement: recipes are courtesy of http://www.zanzinet.org/recipes/dishes/dishes.html, photos are mine.