Ugali / Kenyan maizemeal

What do you do if you live outside Africa and can't get maizemeal? Polenta is basically the same thing, but made from yellow instead of white corn. I'm not a connoisseur, so it does me fine.

We usually have it with roast lamb (goat is more difficult to get) or chicken, a gomen ferenj / Ethiopian vege and a spicy tomato onion condiment.

Recipe for 4

250 gm polenta
1 litre water
little salt

Bring water and salt to boil. Add maizemeal, reduce heat immediately and stir with a whisk all the time for about 10 mins. to avoid clumps forming. Done!

Gomen ferenj / Ethiopian vegetable dish

Recipe for four

Cabbage, washed cut into 3 cm squares, about 800 gm
1 big carrot, peeled and cut into slices or sticks (can be substituted with others, although I find carrot, slightly sweet, goes best))
1 onion, cleaned and cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, remove skin
1 cm piece ginger, peel off skin
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
Vegetable/olive oil - 5 tbsp

Pound together the garlic and ginger. Leave aside.

Heat oil in deep pan. Fry onion wedges till brown. Add carrot and cabbage. Fry in pan for 2 minutes, add half to one cup water, cover to let cook till cabbage is soft. Add turmeric and the garlic ginger mixture. Stir till spices are cooked, add salt to taste.

Stuffed sqiud with tumeric rice

Recipe for 2

2 biggish squids (or more small ones), cleaned but left whole, rub a little salt all over
1 cup rice, cooked with 11/2 cups water
olive oil
turmeric

Mix cooked rice with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, half teasp. tumeric powder and salt to taste.

Chop the squid tentacles into 1 cm lengths, add a tablespoon of olive oil and cook in microwave for just 2 minute. It should be done.

Mix half the tumeric rice to the cooked chopped squid. Stuff the whole squids with the rice.

Heat 3 tablesp. oil in a pan till very hot. Place squids in pan and fry till done and brown on both sides. The time required will depend on the size of the squid. Remove squids from pan and place them on serving plates.

Add 200ml cream and half teaspoon turmeric powder to the pan with leftover juice from the squids to make the turmeric sauce. Salt to taste.

Serve squid with remaining turmeric rice and sauce.

Spargelröllchen / Asparagus rolls

500 gm green asparagus, cleaned
OR
500 gm cooked asparagus from a tin

4 slices cooked ham
4 slices cheese (emmental or other, even processed cheese)
grated cheese, optional
Bechamel sauce, enough to partially cover the rolls


Boil green asparagus for a short time so that they remain green and firm OR drain the asparagus from the tin. Keep the water.

Make the bechamel sauce with butter, wheat flour, some of the water from the tin or from boiling the asparagus and half cup milk or cream.

Make 4 rolls by wrapping the asparagus first in the slices of cooked ham, then in the cheese slices.

Butter an oven-proof dish, pour a bit of the bechamel sauce into the dish, sprinkle some grated cheese on top of the sauce, then place the rolls evenly in the dish. Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top of the rolls, pour the rest of the bechamel sauce over them. Bake at 170 deg. C. for 30 to 40 mins till the top is slightly browned.

Recipe good for two. Serve with plain rice.

Chicken drumsticks

Chicken drumsticks, slightly salted and rubbed with a teaspoon of tumeric
Oil for frying

Fry the drumsticks in hot oil till the juices are sealed in. Then either fry till they are done, or bake them in an oven at 200 deg. C for 20 to 30 mins till they are done.

Serve with rice, vegetable marsala and curry.
Also good for kiddy parties.

Sausage rolls

4 Wienerwuerstchen/Viennese sausages
1 sheet puff pastry (Blaetterteig) 30cm x 30cm, 3 to 5 mm thick

Cut pastry into 4 equally big squares. Wrap the sausages in them, bake in preheated oven at 200 deg. C. for about 20 to 30 mins till golden brown.

Picture shows rolls that have not been baked yet.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Baked pandan chicken

Ingredients:
6 small chicken drumsticks, skins removed
6 small chicken thighs, skins removed
(about 1 kg altogether)

Grind the following in a bowl:
1 piece of ginger, about 5 cm, skinned
2 pips garlic, cleaned
8 shallots, skinned
1 chilli, deseeded

Then add the following to the ground mixture:
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
3 heaped tablespoons coconut milk powder or 200 ml very thick coconut milk
little salt

12 pandan leaves

Marinade the chicken with the ground mixture for half an hour.

Then wrap each piece of chicken in 1 pandan leaf. Oil an oven proof dish and place the pieces of pandan-wrapped chicken side-by-side in the dish. Pour the remaining marinade on top of the chicken pieces.

Alternatively, because it takes some skill to wrap the chicken in pandan leaves, just line the bottom and sides of the ovenproof dish with the pandan leaves. Place the chicken pieces on top of the leaves and place more pieces of leaves between the pieces of meat. Pour the remaining marinade over the chicken.

Bake at 175 deg.C for 1 hour, after which the chicken should be cooked and the marinade is a thick delicious gravy.

This goes well with white or brown rice.