Posho, Matoke and Beans Oh My!

As you would probably guess food is relatively simple here and I've quickly come to realise that there are a few staples here that I will be unable to avoid during my stay.  Luckily I'm not an overly fussy eater or allergic to anything so I'm open to what lands on my plate - as long as its not still moving! That said, maybe I just haven't reached an avoidance phase yet, its more about portion control!

Posho, Beans, Greens and Matoke

Monday - Friday

Carbohydrates are definitely the order of the day with the main meal based around a generous serving of Posho - thickened maize; Matoke - steamed cooked banana; millet bread; rice or chapati. An option of the above is usually served with steamed greens and boiled beans as these are cheap and easy to cook for mass consumption e.g. schools or large families.

My lunch at BRDC each day consists of posho, greens and beans, with the posho swapped for rice on a Wednesday. 

Portion sizes can vary!

You guessed it...

Snacks

With mid morning tea break comes mid morning snacks. I am a fan of the mug of sweet tea each day then generally we have vegetable samosas or small Mandazi, small fried mixtures of egg milk and flour to nibble on. However the following Gonja arrived last week dosed in salt...

Mandazi

 

Out and about

I am trying the local food when I can. A firm favourite with the NGO volunteers seems to be the 'rolex' so called from a rolled egg in a chapati (think omelette), rolled together to make a pretty heavy but cheap meal/snack.  A light lunch the other day consisted of mushrooms in a local peanut sauce - with a choice of sides, so giving the posho/matoke options a swerve, a straightforward chapati was fine for me.

Rolex - Chapati and Omelette 

Mushrooms in Ground Nut Sauce with Chapati

Party Food

Last Wednesday we gatecrashed/were invited to a 60th birthday bash where the birthday buffet seemed to be all the usual lunch options put together rather that either/ors. New for me on this occasion was the millet bread...jury's still out on that one, and a rather dry yam. All being said though, I'm definitely not going hungry!

Party Food

Back to what we know

As you've seen from our now twice weekly forays to the market, we manage to cook for ourselves in the evenings (now its cooled down a little and we can manage more than one cooked meal a day) where we can mix up the vegetables and spices for a little variety in our diet!

First homemade effort!