Fine Dining with the Fam

Staying with Mama Viviana and her family has been an exercise not only in language and social custom, but also in the culinary arts - such as the refined skill of commanding the charcoal cookstove. Lest you scoff at the assertion and suggest that any old person can use charcoal to cook - I challenge you to cook an entire meal (and I don't mean hot dogs) from scratch; lighting your own charcoal from the embers of the last fire; using no measuring cups or spoons; getting the rice perfectly done (and not burnt); making sure you didn't use too much charcoal; using as your utensils a knife, a ndeṛi (wooden stirring stick), and a small metal sppon; and not burning your fingers in the process. It's more difficult than it seems.  I assure you.

How many times do you turn your stove on and off in the course of cooking one meal? Well, there's no turning off the charcoal stove. And how many times do you adjust the flame depending on how hot or strong you want it to burn? There's no adjusting the heat on the charcoal stove. Will you lift off the pot with your bare hands, or will you wad up some guava leaves to use as pot holders? Will you have enough coal to last the length of the rice cooking endeavor? Will it burn too hot and scorch the bottom of the pot? Will you use the charcoal for the course of its burning life, or will you do a quick saute and then waste it by letting it go on burning for nothing? I am proud to say that this is a challenge I have hesitantly manned up to, and conquered. Well, sort of. :) It's been a learning experience.

Dinner typically consists of linya (the starchy paste on the right that is made from the flour of sorgum, maize, or cassava, or a mixture of them), and a sauce or two. In this case we have a wild green known as 'lawi' (sunn hemp) cooked with a bit of onion and salt, and then smothered in a generous helping of kawa oil (shea oil). The other bowl is full of locally grown and ground gnut paste mixed with wild honey. With your right hand, you pinch off a bit of linya, perhaps form it into a ball, then dip it into either of the sauces and eat. Finger-licking good. Pun intended.

The linya is made last (as it is the quickest) and is set out on a large tray (siniya), to which the bowl of sauce is added. Before eating, a cup of water is passed around and everyone washes their hands. We have a little table, the size of a chair really, that we put the tray on, and then we all gather our chairs and stools around that and dip in, all eating from the same bowl.  I love it!

Sauces, especially ones with protein, are harder to come by than grains, so the better part of the meal is starch, with just enough sauce to give you some flavor and nutrition. Though I think we eat rather well at MV's, and I feel healthy, I can definitely tell the difference that a low-protein diet makes on a person's ability to think and concentrate. When you have tea with sugar for breakfast, and a small fried bit of bread, and then have steamed pumpkin for lunch, it's not hard to understand why students struggle to pay attention in school, or why they retain little of what has been discussed in class. It's just hard to focus when you don't begin your day with much brain food.

Saturdays have become my cook day at Mama Viviana's. I plan something special for dinner, go and get all the ingredients, and set to work in our little mud kitchen, often with Mami's help. The first week I attempted Indian curry and rice. The curry was full of every vegetable I could find in the market - onions, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, okra, beans, and amaranthus - a real treat when your typical sauces are made from only one thing, like beans, or greens. I found dried ginger, coriander, and cumin in the market, and used our mortar and pestle to pound them to a pulp. 

The only ingredients I borrowed from our team kitchen were a little curry powder, basil, and coconut milk powder. We spread the rice out on the tray, ladled the curry over top, and sprinkled a hearty smattering of lime juice over the top and the whole thing was pretty much licked clean.

Subsequent Saturdays witnessed burritos with homemade flour tortillas and tortilla chips, salsa, and refried beans; Egyptian Kusherie with rice, lentils, tomato sauce, and fried onions; yet another curry, this time with cooked cassava pieces and linya; as well as tomato onion salad with fresh basil from our garden. Moru food is typically pretty bland as far as spices go. We have salt, some tomato paste at times, and some folks like the little red hot peppers. Other than that, you get your flavor from the foods themselves, and the oil. It's been totally fun to infuse foods with wild splashes of coriander, or cumin, with coconut milk, or fresh basil and cilantro from the garden. Everyone seems to love it. And so the culinary adventures continue - do come for a meal sometime, I guarantee it'll be a fun and flavor filled feast!

With love from Mama Viviana's on burrito night!