Kenyan food is influenced by immigrants who brought their native cuisine with them. It is also influenced by the cuisine brought by the invaders from the north. This Kenyan meal has dishes influenced by cuisine from India, Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
Githeri is a stew prepared with mixed vegetables. Fresh corn was flooding the grocery stores when I made this dish. Fresh corn with bean, carrots and tomatoes made for a very colorful dish that was really tasty. It took a while to cook but the it was worth the wait.
It made an excellent base around which I planned the rest of the meal. The preparation of the Kenyan chapati is very similar to the Indian kulcha. The difference being the chapati is unleavened whereas the kulcha is leavened with baking soda. The pulao is a simple rice dish made with basmati rice roasted in whole spices. It goes well with Tzatziki which is a cucumber salad popular in every country that the Ottoman Empire had an influence on. Kachumbari is a simple tomato onion salad flavored with a touch of lime juice and olive oil. For dessert I made Kashata Za Nazi, a delicious coconut barfi (cake).
I did not use any new ingredients in this meal. In fact, it was the familiarity of the dishes that was surprising to me.
As they say in Kenya in Swahili, Ufurahie chakula chako!
Here are the recipes for the dishes on the menu
And for dessert
Githeri is a stew prepared with mixed vegetables. Fresh corn was flooding the grocery stores when I made this dish. Fresh corn with bean, carrots and tomatoes made for a very colorful dish that was really tasty. It took a while to cook but the it was worth the wait.
As they say in Kenya in Swahili, Ufurahie chakula chako!
Here are the recipes for the dishes on the menu
And for dessert
Wow ! Hats off to you for doing the whole meal spread again . Every dish is looking fabulous and such a lovely presentation..
ReplyDeleteYou rock with your International thali, Kenyan meal is ressembles as much as like our food na, each dish looks fantabulous and definitely irresistible.
ReplyDeleteThe food looks lot similar to Indian food. Nice presentation of Kenyan food.
ReplyDeleteso much like our cuisine and yet so different..lovedt he array of dishes you have picked to make this meal, another fabulous task
ReplyDeleteomg My eyes are glued on that kenyan chapathi hats off to have made them so perfect and even shaped :) looks so delicious and love the spread and choice of recipes to go with platter :) wonderful job done !! you are Rocking dear !!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing similarities to Indian dishes. Most of the names even sound Indian to me.
ReplyDeleteSuch an awesome spread Varada, loved everything you have cooked..looks very much like our own!
ReplyDeletewow yummy combo , chappati looks amazing , super clicks
ReplyDeletelove how you managed to make an Indian meal out of Kenyan dishes :)
ReplyDeleteVery close to our indian platter! love those biggg chapathi! :)
ReplyDeleteWow an enite meal all over again. Varada hats off to you. This meal looks like you said close to an Indian meal.
ReplyDelete