Vanilla Pods From The Shores of Lake Victoria ....

I made this vanilla sugar with vanilla pods grown right here in Tanzania - I try to support local products whenever I can

This is not a recipe as such, but just a simple way in which you can make your own vanilla sugar, and an interesting insight into a part of Tanzania which I have not really covered yet on this blog.

Some years ago I heard talk of a vanilla farm that was about to be started somewhere in the country – vanilla is not a crop I associate with Tanzania (for some odd reason !), despite the fact that the spice island of Zanzibar (where vanilla is grown) lies just off our coastline. Imagine my surprise (I tell you, ‘never say never’ in Africa !) when a couple of months ago I was in my tiny, local, dimly lit ‘supermarket’ and I spied neatly bundled packets of fresh vanilla beans on the shelf – oh my ! I was so excited that I bought several packets (which was just as well, as I have not seen anymore since.)

These particular vanilla pods are being grown in Bukoba, which lies on the western shores of Lake Victoria, which is situated in the north west of Tanzania. (Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, the second largest freshwater lake in world and is well known for it’s Tilapia fish, which can weigh up to 2 kg’s.) If you’d like to read more about Bukoba, and see some photo’s of Tanzanian life & some stunning scenery in that area, you can click here.

I love using the seeds, freshly scraped from the vanilla pod (bean) and adding them to milk, homemade custard, puddings and sugar. Vanilla sugar is great and aside from being used in tea and coffee you can use it on pancakes, for baking (sprinkled over hot biscuits just out of the oven !) or in any other recipe that calls for sugar.

As we cannot get white sugar here I managed to find some imported white caster sugar and I simply took 2 vanilla pods, slit them down the middle, scrapped the gooey seeds out & mushed them up with the sugar (my daughter had fun doing this with me !). Then I placed the ‘empty’ vanilla pods into a clean glass jar, poured the sugar over them and closed the lid tightly.

The jar sits on my tea and coffee tray and making this vanilla sugar has given me an idea for homemade Christmas gifts to give to teachers etc at the end of the year … topped with a round of colourful Tanzanian cloth and containing genuine Tanzanian vanilla …. and I bet my daughter will enjoy all the squishing and mushing that goes along with making them !

A Peek Inside My Freezer .... & a Few Storage Tips

I've detailed below how & what I store on each shelf of my freezer to make the most of the space I have

I freeze as much as I can (even liquids like soup) in resealable plastic bags which I store flat like this - it saves so much space ! (This here is Bolognese Sauce for pasta - incase you were wondering !)

Although I have quite a lot of freezer space I still have to conserve it as we live so far away from town/shops & it fills up so quickly with bulky things that take up a lot of space like loaves of bread & blocks of frozen pets meat. So, what I do to save as much space as I can, is to freeze everything that 'fits' in single or double portion sizes in resealable plastic bags which I then pack to lie flat (usually on top of one another - see the photo above) in the freezer.

For years I used solid square/round plastic contains with lids to freeze stuff in, until resealable plastic bags hit the shelves here, then I switched over and I haven't looked back since ! Don't be nervous to freeze liquids in resealable bags either - things like cheese sauce, Bolognese sauce and even soup freezes really well and saves you so much wasted space, and if you seal them properly and squeeze as much air out as possible, they won't leak at all ! I also store casseroles, frozen fruit (raspberries, mango, strawberries) and child sized portions of rice in smaller bags like this, which are quick to take out and pop into a bowl of hot water if I need to defrost them in a hurry.

The other photo above shows the bottom section of my main fridge in the kitchen, which contains my freezer drawers. I thought you might like to have a quick look so that I can show you how I organise it ....

On the top (narrow) shelf I store small packets of frozen fruit, rice and tortilla's/wraps.

The next shelf contains a few more bread items (frozen muffins, waffles etc) & pre cooked & portioned meals .... I have meatballs in the round plastic containers (I never freeze them flat in plastic bags as they do tend to get a bit squashed). I also have portions (in packets) of things like homemade hamburger patties, chicken curry, cottage pie filling (I freeze it in packets & then just tip it into a casserole dish & top with fresh mashed potato before grilling and serving as I don't like the texture of defrosted mashed potato !) and chopped up cooked chicken breasts (which are great for adding to salads, sandwiches or a sauce for a quick and easy supper).

The shelf beneath this contains all my raw meats (so that they don't drip onto the cooked stuff) like whole beef fillets, t-bone steaks, pork chops, fish fillets and whole chicken - things that I like to cook 'fresh'. I also use this shelf to store cold luncheon meats, bacon and sausages. (Okay I cheated here - as you can see - & added some packets of cooked Bolognese Sauce on the right. I was tired last night after making the sauce & fitted it in to the closest space I could find so that it would just freeze quickly before the generator went off for the night and the freezers did, too !)

The bottom shelf (yellow packet) contains 1 kg packets of frozen pet's mince. I keep the individual packets in one big packet so that no blood drips out on to the floor of the freezer .... egggh ! I also take all my scraps like chicken skin, fat trimmed off steaks, oil drained off stuff like bacon etc and freeze these in small bags which are added to the food for the stray village dogs I feed each night.

I also practice the "first in, first out" stock rotation system (I know - you'd swear I was still running a hotel or catering for 300 guests !) where when I get fresh supplies in, they go to the back of the particular shelf they belong on (eg. cold meat section or cooked meals) and the old stuff comes to the front. I do the same thing in my pantry/store room, too as I've found this system has worked well for me when we were running remote safari camps and it works just as well in my own home now too !

Oh yes and one more thing (I am pedantic in everything I do, incase you haven't noticed by now - ha ha !) I keep a "Stock List" on the main fridge door with all my stock listed in sections like "Cooked Meals", "Raw Meats" & "Baked Items" so that I always know what's in there & never have to rummage around looking for things. This is also a great help as it means I never run out of stuff, as I can see at a glance what I have.

So, there you have it - hope I didn't bore you too much with my excitement over the extremely thought provoking subject of How To Pack Your Freezer Efficiently. (Maybe I really should get out more, eh ?!)

Sprouting Your Own Seeds ...

Sprouting your own seeds are great fun when you have children in the house - even kids are amazed at how quickly they 'grow' !

During my recent trip to South Africa I became the proud owner of a Seed Sprouter. Yes, you read that correctly ! (Gosh, a Seed Sprouter and a Waffle Iron in quick succession – things in my rustic farm kitchen are looking up !) I might just add that my husband is more impressed with the Waffle Iron than with the Seed Sprouter though – he keeps muttering comments under his breath along the lines of “rabbit food” ……………. hah !

Anyway, back to the Seed Sprouter. I saw it in the health food section of a large pharmacy, so I bought it along with a selection of seeds. I think it’s really nice to be able to add bean/seed sprouts to salads, stir-fries & casseroles and I’ve also heard that you can add them to homemade hamburger patties, meatballs, bread and rolls (before baking), smoothies and even as a sandwich spread.

Apart from adding a nice crunch to whatever you happen to be eating them with, they are of course very healthy – especially when eaten in their ‘raw’ state (as a "living food") – as they are not only high in fibre but also a rich source of vitamins, minerals, proteins and antioxidants.

I bought a selection of seeds to go in the sprouter -: Mung beans, Soya beans, Fenugreek, Brown Lentils, Chick Peas, Japanese Radish and Alfalfa. So far I’ve only tried a few of them. (The Japanese Radish were delicious, with a sharp mustard like tang when sprinkled over a salad).

My daughter likes eating them by the handful as a snack, but my husband refuses to try them (although I slipped a few – unnoticed – into a stir-fry the other night !) and Justin just wrinkled his nose up when I offered some to him, and said no thanks Mama, I really don’t want to try them (and he is usually quite adventurous and willing to try new things).

The Seed Sprouter consists of 5 round plastic containers (pictured above) that lock into each other when stacked on top of one other . There are drainage holes at the bottom of each (except the last/bottom one) & you put 10 to 20 grams of seeds in each container & then every day, twice a day, you pour a cup of clean water into the top container & it filters down to the bottom container which you then empty. (You can keep this water to add to stocks, soups etc as it is very nutritious. I add mine to the dog’s food !)

The main thing is to make sure that the seeds don’t rot or become mouldy (some have very fine, furry roots that can be mistaken for mould though !) and to never use seeds intended for planting as they may have been chemically treated & will be poisonous to eat.

If you do a quick Google search, you can find out how to make your own simple Seed Sprouter at home out of an empty glass jar covered with fine mesh/netting. It’s a fun thing to do with kids too (even a few seeds in a saucer) as they germinate so quickly. (Usually within 2 – 3 days but some of mine germinated within 12 hours !) My daughter loves helping me with the daily ‘task’ of watering the seeds & emptying the bottom container, and marveling at how much they’ve ‘grown’ since the day before !

Redecorating ... & Making Furniture Tanzanian Style !

My daughter has her own 'private' walled garden leading off her bedroom - the cats love it here !

It's a difficult room to photograph because of the odd layout & looks a bit sparse in the photo's but is actually quite cozy !

I recently posted about the fact that I was re decorating my daughter’s bedroom. (If you’re interested, you can read all about that along with the typical frustrating African process of trying to get the right shade of paint for it here.)

Nelson (our resident painter/handyman) has done a great job, and it is now complete, so I thought I’d post some photo’s for you to see. It’s difficult to see from the photo’s, but each wall is painted in an alternating shade of either pink or lilac. The ceiling is also painted in these shades, as are the doors and doorframes. I’ve also used both shades on the bed, shelving, cupboard (not visible in the photos) and bookshelf. As I said to my husband, I would only ever go really crazy with colour like this in a young child’s bedroom, and certainly not anywhere else in the house ! (Although I have just painted the back wall of our bedroom a deep Ox Blood/Paprika colour, and it looks lovely).

I still want to add another shelf, have a side table made and add some butterfly stencils on to the wall … the wall above her bed that is that odd shape, is actually the back of the fireplace in our main lounge so it keeps her room nice and warm in Winter !

Most furniture here has to be custom made, if you really want to get something nice. I went on to the website of a large well known UK furniture manufacturer and found the style of bed I wanted for my daughter, printed out a picture of it and got what measurements I could, then sat with Nelson and explained to him how I wanted him to make it. We went out and bought the wood, and – voila ! This is how I get most of my furniture made here.

It’s great fun to take, say, a picture from a glossy interior design magazine and get a carpenter to make something for you … recently I had a gorgeous king size sleigh style “inspired” bed made for our guest bedroom and it turned out really well and is better than anything I could buy in a shop here, as it has been lovingly hand carved and made by someone who really loves what he does. I wanted an extra length bed so changed the measurements accordingly – then I had a problem finding a mattress here that fit it. As we can only buy foam mattresses here I had to buy one and an off cut and glue the 2 together to get the correct size ….. nothing is really straightforward or easy here in Africa, you know ;)

Visitors, Bolognese, Bath Soap and .... Bed !

This photo (taken today) shows the area between our house & the farm workshops - Kilimanjaro lies just behind that cloud !

Walking from the Guest Cottage, through the workshops, to the area in the first photo

It’s been a busy day on the farm today. We had the owner of the company my husband works for out from Europe, along with the General Manager of the Tanzanian operation with his wife and 3 children. We all get along really well though, so it was a lovely day with the kids all playing together and the adults catching up.

After early morning tea, coffee and biscuits, I served lunch out on the veranda for all of us (9 in total). I made Fettuccini with a Bolognese sauce and a second cheese, ham and onion sauce and served that with fresh bread rolls and a large salad. For pudding I made an Apricot crumble with custard, and the kids had ice cream !

After lunch we had tea and coffee again and in the late afternoon we all went for a short walk on the farm, around to the guest cottage and back again before everyone left to go home.

So, I am quite tired now after all the cooking and talking and catching up on town gossip (!!). I was spoiled today with a set of gorgeous Marks & Spencer Vanilla and Cocoa Butter bath soaps, and the latest “Hello” magazine …. so I am now heading off for a nice hot bath (it has been freezing cold here today) and to snuggle in bed and read my “Hello”, so……. goodnight, all - see you tomorrow :)

Toddler Fun - An Easy & Non Toxic Play Dough Recipe !

Play Dough is so easy to make & will give your child hours of fun !

I remember having “Play dough” as a child, which my Mum made for us. In fact, I vividly remember trying to eat the very bright pink/almost red coloured dough and quickly removing it from my mouth when I realized how salty it was !

When I was pregnant with my daughter, my sister gave me this simple and non toxic play dough recipe which she made regularly for her kids, and I have made it for my daughter ever since. It’s a really easy recipe which requires no cooking.

The first batch I made kept perfectly for over a year in an airtight plastic bag, as I put it away carefully after each use. The high salt content acts as a preservative. Despite the extreme saltiness, my daughter still eats it and I have to stop her from trying to feed it to the dogs all the time !

I usually give my daughter a plastic board, rolling pin and some pastry cutters to use with the play dough. I have also made small holes in the play dough shapes and baked them so that they harden, then threaded them on to a piece of string for her and made a “necklace”. You could also use this to make simple decorations for your Christmas tree. The possibilities are endless !

Here’s the recipe -:


Easy & Non Toxic Play Dough

2 cups white Flour
1 cup Salt
4 tbsps Cream of Tartar
2 tbsp cooking Oil
a few drops of Food Colouring
2 ½ cups boiling Water

Mix all the flour, salt and cream of tartar together in a large bowl. Then put the oil, food colouring & 1 cup of the boiling water into a jug & mix well before adding to the dry ingredients. Blend well and then add the other 1 ½ cups of boiling water & mix together to form a soft, pliable dough.

(The dough needs to be kneaded well before using it for the first time, while it is still warm.)

Store in an airtight plastic bag – it will keep for up to a year.

The Spices of Zanzibar

My Spice rack - which hangs on my kitchen wall & which I make daily use of !

The romantic, exotic island of Zanzibar lies just 37 km’s (23 miles) off Tanzania’s coast and is easily accessible from the mainland by ferry, dhow fishing boat or ‘plane. I have spent some time in Zanzibar and it really is a beautiful island.

Stone Town is a popular tourist attraction (it is the only functioning historical city in East Africa and has the narrowest streets in the world !) as are the beautiful beaches which are picture postcard perfect with powdery white sand and swaying coconut palms. Zanzibar is also known for her beautiful, heavy carved and brass studded wooden doors and on a musical note, for the fact that Freddie Mercury (of the band “Queen”) was born there.

The food in Zanzibar is unbelievable. Seafood is caught fresh daily and is served in all the restaurants, and I have fond food memories of sitting in a rooftop restaurant watching the sun set over the ocean and tucking in to “Prawns Pili Pili” (peri peri prawns) which were served as “bitings” (snacks) with sundowners, on our first night there. Zanzibar was also the first place where I ever tasted star fruit, which was served fresh by the platter for breakfast.

Also known as “The Spice islands”, Zanzibar and the neighbouring island of Pemba together supply around 75% of the world’s clove crop. (If you ever cook with cloves or clove powder, it is highly likely that they came from this part of the world !). The fragrance of the cloves that hangs over the island during the harvest season is incredible …..

We did a “Spice Tour” when we were in Zanzibar and it was an amazing experience to actually see the spices growing in their “whole” form, as we are so used to only seeing the final product (powders, seeds or pods) on supermarket shelves !

Aside from cloves, other crops grown on Zanzibar include ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon and vanilla to name but a few. When I buy spices here, most of them come from Zanzibar and as a result they are still very fresh. Many are simply packaged in plastic bags sealed shut by using the flame of a candle to melt the plastic together, with handwritten or photocopied labels. Aside from growing your own, I don’t think you’ll find fresher spices than these, and I am very fortunate to have them readily available (and reasonably priced) right on my doorstep …..

East African Food

A local roadside stall selling fruit & vegetables - a very common sight here

I thought it would be interesting to write a little about local East African food – what is commonly eaten, and available here in Tanzania.

Tanzania has an abundance of delicious fruit and vegetables, most of which are grown by small subsistence farmers who transport their produce on a weekly basis to the local markets for sale. (It is not uncommon to see pick-up trucks loaded with cabbages, or large bunches of bananas being transported in hand pulled wooden carts - or on the heads of eager sellers !)

Locally grown fruits include bananas, mangos, pineapples, oranges, paw paws (papaya), watermelons, passion fruit (granadilla), lemons and limes. Vegetables include potatoes, onions and tomatoes along with carrots, cabbages, baby marrows (zucchini), aubergines, spinach (and “Mchicha” which is a similar green leafy vegetable), beans and pumpkin to mention a few.

Chapati which are similar to a tortilla or pancake (made with flour) are popular here and are usually served as an accompaniment to savoury meat, fish or vegetable dishes.

Beans (like Kidney beans) are a popular staple ingredient, and are added to stews, soups and meat dishes.

Ugali (a stiff maize porridge) is a popular dish and is made by boiling course maize flour with milk, salt, water and some kind of fat and is also served with savoury meat, fish or vegetable dishes and sometimes eaten on it’s own with milk and sugar. Maize is found all over the country, and a delicious way to eat this is after it has been roasted whole over an open fire.

Rice is another staple, with “Magugu rice” being quite popular – it is a delicious rice named after the region in which is it grown and has a distinctive nutty & fragrant flavour.

Cassava, also found in many other African countries, is a staple food and lightly salted cassava chips (much like potato chips) are popular snacks. Cassava is also served mashed, cooked in stews, or boiled in coconut milk as a side dish & can be likened to potato.

Cashew nuts and peanuts are favourite snacks and can be bought on the roadside served in paper cones.

One of the most popular ways of serving meat is by roasting it over an open fire – similar to a barbecue – this style of meat cooking is called “Nyama Choma”. Chicken and goat’s meat is popular, as is beef.

Nile Perch and Tilapia are perhaps two of Tanzania’s most well known fish and other fish available include Red Snapper, Kingfish and Tuna. (Smoked and dried fish are common, due to a lack of refrigeration in many areas.)

Tanzanian “chai” (Chai means tea in the local Kiswahili language) is delicious – it is usually made very milky and sweet and is flavored with a ‘tea masala’ mix which includes spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and black pepper. (I’m tickled pink to see that “Chai” in all it’s various forms is now available in many large coffee shop chains and supermarkets across Europe, marketed as a brand !)

In parts of the country, sugar cane juice is served and in the coastal areas a real treat on a hot day is fresh coconut milk – served right out of the shell !

I will include a few recipes for local East African food on the blog over time, and will continue to write about locally produced Tanzanian food – if you’d like to read what I’ve already written about this, you will find the section “Tanzanian Products” listed on the right sidebar under “Categories”.

Fresh Farm Eggs

Eggs fresh from the farm "Mama's" & served in a handcarved Tanzanian wooden Elephant egg cup

Buying eggs in town and transporting them back to the farm always results in breakages, no matter how careful I am ! So I was pleased to discover that many of the local “Mama’s” (women) who live on the borders of our farm, along with some of our farm labourer’s wives, are happy to sell me any excess eggs which they may have – as almost all of them have their own chickens.

I’d much rather support the local community, anyway - and I try only to buy from women because I know that they use the money wisely, to buy food for their children for example, whereas the men usually spend the money on useless things like tobacco and beer. The same goes for market produce, I only ever buy from women if I can, for the very same reason.

Anyway, back to the eggs. Sometimes sellers will come to our gate with the eggs, but I usually get Justin to put the word out a day or two before I need any, and he “rotates” by buying from different Mama’s each week, so that everyone gets a chance to sell some. Sometimes I’ll “order” 12 eggs for example, and only 10 will be provided. I’ll then joke and say “What is wrong with the chicken’s today ? Why haven’t they laid 12 eggs ?” and this will be met with laughter and I will then be offered “credit” to leave the balance of money for the 2 eggs with the seller, who will bring them to our gate the minute the chickens “produce”.

I always test them for freshness by floating them in a bowl of water. Bad eggs always float, and fresh ones always sink. If any float I always say to Justin “Go and ask that Mama if we can return this one for a refund” of course this is then passed on to the Mama who shakes her head and clucks in glee at the joke … “No, sorry ” she will say, “No refunds for bad eggs Mama Lynda - the chicken refuses to take that one back !”

The Tanzanian’s have a great sense of humour and I think that this is what carries them through a lot of hardships in their lives. If you take the time to joke with them a little, they really enjoy it and their laughter is so heartfelt and just like a tonic !

I always buy far more than I need if there is a glut of eggs around, then my stray village dogs get some added to their food at night, too. So, it’s a win-win situation all round. I should also mention that an egg sells for 200/= shillings which is around .16 c (U$). Really, nothing at all yet it makes a difference to the person receiving the money. A kilogram of tomatoes or potatoes costs around .80c (U$) and those are pretty staple foods in most homes here, so a Mama is only to happy to sell a few eggs so that she can buy some tomatoes.

So there you have it – probably the longest “egg” story you’ve ever read !

Connoisseur Cooking of the '60's

Just a few of the old supplements I've 'inherited' ....

“I was going to throw these out” said my Mum “But then I thought I’d better check if you wanted to keep them first”. I’m so glad that she did, because they are rare copies of “Connoisseur Cooking” published as a weekly supplement to “You Magazine” from 1969 through 1971 in Salisbury, Rhodesia. There are 19 issue’s in total (not the complete series) and I jumped at the chance to claim them as my own ! I have a collection of old family recipes and recipe books from my Mother’s side of the family, some dating as far back as 1929 so I am only too happy to add these supplements to my collection.

I adore “old fashioned” cooking, and recipes containing common ingredients used in simple yet clever ways. I also think that these supplements in particular, contain a little bit of “Rhodesian” food history which has long since vanished as time has gone by.

Here is a sample of some of the interesting snippets I’ve found in the supplements so far -:

“Cordon Bleu” cooking classes were offered in 1969 for “working women and housewives alike” and a 6 week course cost 3.30 Pounds.

Introductions to various ingredients included gems such as “Potato may appear an extremely mundane vegetable, but is really a boon to any housewife” and one feature titled “Victory with Vegetables”.

The supplements are peppered with advice such as “If you wish to impress, then a gateau is your answer. Guaranteed to evoke awe .. it will allow you to give vent to any decorative flair you may be harboring” and “cold meats have long been a favourite of the housewife”.

A feature called “Pickin’ a Chicken” claims “Once a luxury reserved for Christmas and special occasions – chicken nowadays features frequently on the average family menu”.

Recipes include such delights as “Inyanga Trout”, “Baked Ham American Way” , “Windfall Cake” , “3 Witches Froth”, “Economy Bread Rolls”, “Roast Haunch of Venison”, “Bacon Mealie Meal Waffles” and “Tuna Fish Chowder”.

Readers were encouraged to mail cooking related questions in, and a select few were published in the “Query Corner” of each issue. On ‘housewives’ minds at the time, were taxing questions such as “Can one buy shredded suet ?”, “How do I stuff and garnish a suckling pig ?” and “How much flour does one cake of yeast raise ?”

These supplements are little treasures and I hope in the future to be able to recreate some of the old recipes to photograph and feature on my blog, so watch this space ….. (although I think I’ll pass on the “Tuna Fish Chowder”, thanks !)

Stilton

Stilton with Blackberries - nothing beats the taste !

I’m not much of a “cheese person” (if there is such a thing !) …. I can take it or leave it. Until it comes to Stilton, that is ….

I first tasted Stilton in the early ‘90’s at a lunch party held on a raspberry farm in the Magaliesburg, South Africa (in those days I was dating a strawberry farmer, seems like I always had a thing for the farm life ?!). It was a lovely al fresco lunch served on the verandah of the old farm house, and after dessert the hostess came out with a platter containing a huge wheel of Stilton topped with a hard, caramelized sugar topping – much to the awe of everyone seated around the table.

At that time, you could not get Stilton in Africa but an overseas guest had brought this into the country from the UK as a special “treat”. It was love at first bite for me ! There was just something about the delicious creaminess of the Stilton contrasted against the crisp, hardness of the sugar topping that really appealed to me. (Although I must admit that Stilton tastes just as delicious on it’s own.)

Several years later, I was in the UK with my husband and we were staying with my Uncle Gerald in Chester, when after dinner he brought out some Stilton with apricots mixed into it. Once again, the delicious combination of sweet/sour/creaminess had me hooked. Since then I have tried it mixed with both Cranberries and Blueberries, too – and all are equally delicious.

I was delighted to discover a few years ago that there are certain places in South Africa where you can now buy Stilton (the genuine stuff) – so needless to say, a trip to South Africa is never complete without a little Stilton !

Stilton is made from local cow’s milk in the UK counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and the ‘art’ of making it is over 300 years old – and only 7 dairies in the world are licenced to produce it. You get both blue and white Stilton (I prefer the latter). If you’ve never tried it, I urge you to because even if you aren’t a “cheese person” – I’m sure that you’ll love it !

A South African Tradition

Nothing beats a traditional South African "braai" !

Well, not only a South African tradition as it is practiced in many parts of the world but it certainly plays a huge part in African culture all over the continent – a braai vleis (directly translated to “cook meat”) or barbecue.

“Braai Vleis” is an Afrikaans term shortened to “braai” (as in “come around to our house for a braai on Saturday after the rugby”) . In East Africa the expat community refers to it as a “barbecue” … possibly because it sounds posher (yes, we are quite snobby !) and also due to the large Australian expat influence there who affectionately refer to a barbecue as a “Barbie”

The local Tanzanians, on the other hand, refer to it as “Nyama Choma” which directly translated means “Meat Charred” and you can buy a piece of “Nyama Choma” in almost any Tanzanian village, where it is cooked on small open wood fires on the roadside. Goat meat is a popular choice, closely followed by chicken.

Yesterday afternoon we had a “braai” and cooked some Boerewors (spicy sausage), steak and chicken pieces. It really was delicious, there’s just something about the flavour of meat cooked over an open fire that you just can’t beat.

We ate the meat with a lovely fresh salad and some “pap”. Which is another typical African side dish which I will do a post about soon.