ugali\/fufu\/posho<\/em> tastes are\u2026mixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\nProgram Officer Samuel Ngidiwe eats it almost every day with his supper. \u201cI do love it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPosho<\/em> and beans! Mmmmm,\u201d said Director of Operations Dan Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI love ugali<\/em>, mostly because of its mild flavor,\u201d said Marketing Director Courtney Feild.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut not everyone shares their enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUgali is not enjoyable in my opinion, but paired with a heaping of sukuma wiki<\/em>\u2026it is manageable,\u201d said Program Officer Tom Murphy. Sukuma wiki<\/em> is a Kenyan dish with collard greens, tomatoes, oil, and spices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI have mostly eaten posho\/ugali,<\/em> and I have strong opinions (and strategies) here,\u201d said Director of Program Spencer Bogle. \u201cThe key is the sauce. Whereas the posho\/ugali<\/em> is bland and heavy, it is completely socially acceptable to leave it on the plate once the soup\/greens are finished. A working person\u2019s food sticks with you for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cNope to all the Sudza\/Xima<\/em> (what it\u2019s called In Mozambique), but a big YES to all the beans, sauces, and greens,\u201d said Program Services Reporting Officer Andrea Pavkov. \u201cBreaking off a chunk and rolling\/scooping it just right to scoop up all the real goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThese varied reactions are why I was shocked in a recent staff meeting with members from our in-country teams to hear that ugali<\/em>\/fufu\/posho<\/em> is several staff members\u2019 favorite dish of all time. As with many of the favorite foods shared on that call, the dish is often associated with memories of family and times gone by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cFor someone who has never eaten ugali, I can tell you that you are missing a lot,\u201d said Protus Ekesa, a Program Coordinator working in Western Kenya. \u201cThis is a very delicious meal that is easy to prepare. [It] has got no complicated process, does not [need] a lot of ingredients to prepare, can be served with [a] variety of stews, [and] can be used as tea escort in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI belong to the Luhya community of Kenya, which is widely recognized in my country for its deep appreciation of ugali<\/em> and food in general,\u201d said Allan Amady, an IT Specialist for our Western Kenya WaSH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) program. \u201cGrowing up, I was raised in a humble environment where my parents didn\u2019t have much to offer, but they always shared what they had with immense love and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cEvery evening, after a day of hard work, my mother would gather my two brothers, my sister, and myself around the fireplace as she prepared ugali<\/em>. This meal was easily accessible and affordable at that time. We would engage in storytelling, make jokes, and share laughter while my mother cooked. Once the food was ready, we would all sit around a mat, say a prayer to express [our] gratitude to God for [the] provision, and enjoy the meal together as a loving family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThese experiences and moments have ingrained in me a deep appreciation for ugali<\/em>. It symbolizes the love and cherished memories we shared as a family. As I grew older, I learned how to make ugali<\/em>, and I continue to carry on this tradition with my immediate family. I have taught my wife the importance of bonding with our three-year-old daughter, Kelsey, through storytelling while preparing meals. I hope that she, too, will grow to love this tradition and pass it down to future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI grew up in a small village in [the] Port Loko district,\u201d said Deputy Country Director in Sierra Leone, Mohamed Turay. \u201cMy father was an only child, and when my father left for the United States to study, my grandmother was in great despair, thinking that my father [would] never return. I was sent to stay with her at the age of five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHer only source of income at the time was selling fufu<\/em> made from cassava. As a woman, she was not allowed to own land passed down to her by her father. The land was then willed to my father even though he was in the States. She used the land to plant a large farm of cassava for making fufu. My grandmother never had any money, and fufu is very heavy when eaten. Fufu can be eaten with any sauce. Early in the morning, she [would] cook the fufu<\/em> for me before I [would] tag along to sell the fufu<\/em> at the market at the chiefdom headquarters. It is a six-mile walk roundtrip. I grew up seeing and eating fufu<\/em> every day. My grandmother passed away in 2014 from old age. Every time I eat fufu<\/em>, I remember my grandmother, carrying me on her back, walking the six miles every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Sierra Leone, fufu <\/em>is fermented before it\u2019s cooked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe smell of the uncooked fufu<\/em> might not be pleasant, but when cooked, it is delicious,\u201d Mohamed said. \u201cIt is best with slippery sauces. Start off eating fufu<\/em> with groundnut (peanut) soup with raw fish, chicken, or beef. The reason for starting out with groundnut soup is [that it\u2019s] easier to eat for starters instead of starting with okra.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nBelow is Allan\u2019s recipe for Kenyan ugali<\/em>. This recipe will taste and feel different than Mohamed\u2019s fermented cassava version despite serving the same soup- or stew-vehicle purpose in a meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nKenyan Ugali<\/em> Recipe:<\/p>\n\n\n\nIngredients:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- 2 cups of water<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 4 cups corn flour \n
\n- Not corn meal or cornstarch – corn flour is made from an entire kernel, while cornstarch is made only from starch.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Optimally, the flour should be white and smooth, not yellow and coarse. The latter kind will give your ugali a rough or grainy texture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- This can usually be found in the Asian or Latin American section of a grocery store in the U.S.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Some chefs may want to add a pinch of salt\/sugar to taste, but it is not included in Allan\u2019s recipe!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Directions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Start by boiling 2 cups of water in a pan. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Once the water reaches a boiling point, gradually add maize (corn) flour while stirring gently. Continue adding flour until the mixture resembles a dough-like consistency. Stir consistently to avoid any lumps forming. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Once the mixture is well-mixed and soft, cover it and allow it to steam for approximately 2-5 minutes over low heat. Look for a crust forming on the sides of the pan and a delightful aroma, as these signs indicate that your ugali<\/em> is ready. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Shape the ugali into a ball-like shape and serve it, preferably with soup or stew.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRemember, ugali<\/em> tastes even better when shared with others,\u201d Allan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow to Eat Ugali<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nPinch a small piece and hold it between your fingers on the palm, shaping it into a ball. Use your thumb to create a hollow indentation in the ball-shaped ugali<\/em>. This indentation acts as a scoop for the accompanying stew. Take a bite of the ugali<\/em> and stew, savoring the flavors as you chew and relish this delicacy. Alternatively, you can cut the ugali<\/em> into smaller pieces and use a fork to enjoy it alongside your desired accompaniment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOne thing you’ll notice is that this African food staple would be impossible to make without water. You can help us get safe, reliable water to the people who need it most in sub-Saharan Africa. Click here<\/a> to find a community still waiting for a source of water and see the lives you can change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s called by many names. In Sierra Leone, it\u2019s called fufu or foofoo. In Uganda, it\u2019s posho. In Kenya, it\u2019s ugali. But all over Africa and the Caribbean, people are (essentially) eating the same thing. With its worldwide adoration, I was surprised I\u2019d never heard of this dish until I started working at The Water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34448,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[177,178,8,59],"class_list":["post-208508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-just-for-fun","tag-culture","tag-food","tag-kenya","tag-sierra-leone"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34448"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208881,"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208508\/revisions\/208881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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