\n<\/p>\n
Tanzanian cuisine is incredibly varied (as you might expect from a place with over 120 different ethnic groups), but there\u2019s one food you\u2019ll see almost anywhere you travel in the country: ugali.<\/p>\n
A simple starch made from cornmeal or corn flour, ugali is similar to a stiff polenta, or very thick cream of wheat. A generous serving of this Tanzanian staple accompanies most meals, serving as a simple, filling supplement to the main course, much like fufu in west Africa, or breads and pastas in a western diet.<\/p>\n
Cooking ugali is simple \u2013 just follow this recipe:<\/p>\n
Step 1:<\/strong> Bring some amount of water (and if you\u2019re feeling daring, a teaspoon or so of salt) to a boil.<\/p>\n Step 2:<\/strong> Slowly add the cornmeal, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, until it thickens and pulls away from the side of the pan.<\/p>\n How much cornmeal you add depends on your preferred ugali texture, but a good rule of thumb is to start with a 2:1 ratio of water to cornmeal, adding more if you need it.<\/p>\n But making ugali is just the start: the real fun comes when you try to eat it!<\/p>\n Traditionally, Tanzanians will use three fingers to scoop out a small amount, then roll it into a ball and use their thumbs to form an indentation in the center. They\u2019re left with a miniature ugali \u201cbowl\u201d that can be used to scoop up whatever else is on the plate, from meat stews and fish curries to vegetable side-dishes like sukuma wiki (an east African version of collard greens).<\/p>\n It may take a little while to get the hang of using ugali as your only utensil\u2026but that\u2019s just a great excuse to try out a fun ugali dish at home to whet your appetite (literally) for a trip to Tanzania!<\/p>\n Ugali would go perfectly with mchuzi wa biringani, a traditional Tanzanian eggplant dish:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Ingredients: <\/strong><\/p>\n 4-5 small eggplants, chopped (salt, rinse, and squeeze dry before cooking)<\/p>\n 2 large tomatoes , chopped<\/p>\n 2 large potatoes, chopped<\/p>\n 1 medium onion, chopped<\/p>\n 2 cloves garlic, minced<\/p>\n 1<\/sup>\/4<\/sub> c butter<\/p>\n 1 1<\/sup>\/4<\/sub> c water<\/p>\n 1<\/sup>\/4<\/sub> tsp cinnamon<\/p>\n 1<\/sup>\/4<\/sub> tsp ground cloves<\/p>\n 1<\/sup>\/4<\/sub> tsp chili powder<\/p>\n 1 tbsp curry powder<\/p>\n Salt to taste<\/p>\n Directions: <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) \u00a0 In a large saut\u00e9 pan over medium heat, melt the butter<\/p>\n 2) \u00a0 Add all the vegetables and the garlic to the pan and cook until the potatoes and eggplant begin to brown<\/p>\n 3) \u00a0\u00a0Add all spices and water<\/p>\n 4) \u00a0 Simmer until liquid reduces to a thick, sauce-like consistency<\/p>\n 5) \u00a0 Serve with a hearty helping of ugali!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tanzanian cuisine is incredibly varied (as you might expect from a place with over 120 different ethnic groups), but there\u2019s one food you\u2019ll see almost anywhere you travel in the country: ugali….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}