Shopping at the Local Market and Cooking Class in Kampala

On Saturday I was welcomed into a private home and taught to cook a traditional meal (after we went shopping at the local market for ingredients).

A staple is matoke (made with bananas) - and a delicious sauce called g-nut sauce (made with peanuts).

We have the same matoke plants in our backyard in Florida - and I can’t wait to make matoke and g-sauce back home! 

 I also need to find a recipe for the homemade pineapple/ginger/tea juice.  It is made by boiling the skin of a pineapple, and adding black tea and ginger. Strain, then chill.  I love how nothing goes to waste. After eating the fruit of the pineapple, even the skin can be used to make a delicious beverage.

Shopping at this vibrant market on a Saturday morning was an experience in itself.  We needed to buy greens, matoke, smoked fish and some yams.  With each vendor it was a bartering session to negotiate the prices.

My host family walked me through each of the steps to prepare the matoke and the g-nut sauce and the greens. We prepared the food on the front porch and cooked in the charcoal stove outside.

I was most impressed by how every single part of the banana plant was used -- the leaves are used in the cooking process, the stems are cut from the leaves (and those are later used as string or for weaving baskets)  - and even the old dried up parts of the stalk were used to tie up the matoke before cooking.  (In other words, parts of the plant that we will put out to be taken as yard waste all have an important role to play)  Nothing went to waste - the peels could be given to animals to eat or the skin of the pineapple can be boiled to make that delicious pineapple/ginger/tea.

The other thing that was very impressive was how few ingredients were used. For the matoke -- it was the banana. That's it.  It was peeled, wrapped, steamed, mushed up -- but just the banana.  And the g-nut sauce was the ground peanuts (with their skins on - that's what gave the sauce its purple color) and water.  When we made the sauce we added some vegetables and some smoked fish from the market.  But you could enjoy that sauce with just the peanuts and the water. In either case, no spices or seasonings were used.

I suppose the moral of the story is that one can have a delicious, filling meal with few ingredients. And nothing should go to waste!

Enjoying a delicious meal with new frirends!