Mastering the Art of American Cooking

A bit sick of beef stew and ugali, I convinced my family last Sunday to let me cook them dinner--American style. I am normally a good cook, but I'm realizing that much of my success comes from the availability of a variety of fresh veggies, cleanly packaged proteins, and a stocked spice cabinet. The reality here is quite different. I had been scheming about what I could prepare them since my recovering-vegetarian self has no idea how to cook goat, grisly chunks of beef on the bone, or whole chickens available at the butchers.

I pretty much decided ground beef was my only protein option, so I thought that real spaghetti with meat sauce (as opposed to over-cooked noodles topped with beef stew) would be perfect to give the family a taste of typical American cooking and satisfy my urge for western food. So after church, we made off for the Nakumatt, the Kenyan version of Walmart. There I found nearly all the ingredients for my meal—but they came at a price. One jar of Ragu sauce was over $5! And real butter for the garlic bread? More than twice the price of ground beef! In total, I think the ingredients for the meal cost about $20, which I realize is not incredibly much to feed 6 people, but compared to a Kenyan meal, it’s practically robbery. Good news is that the meal was a success. They loved it and the leftover garlic bread was gone by the time I got up the next morning.

In another attempt to dodge Kenyan cuisine, I also bought a ridiculously expensive jar of peanut butter to go with my overpriced apple the other day (The jar has since become a public commodity since I put in the fridge). And once more, I paid an exorbitant price for lunch at the decidedly western Green Garden restaurant claiming to have the best pizza in Kisumu (by the way, it was extremely delicious and far exceeded past adventures into the Kenyan version of Italian food).

And so by this weekend, I was feeling the strain on my wallet from my American food habit. I started looking up recipes for homemade versions of thing I thought feasible to make with local ingredients. Apparently my host mom, Lucy, has similar domestic intentions in mind this weekend. After picking the leaves off of a giant pile of traditional vegetables we bought at the open air market, it was much to my surprise that we set to work on making our own sesame/peanut butter.

It was so exciting! Seeing roasted peanuts and sesame seeds transformed into delicious, additive-free butter right before my eyes. For those of you with Magic Bullets (Liza), I suggest trying it out.

We also made fresh made fresh mango juice in the blender. After dinner, Jackline brought a gourd filled with our fresh milk out to the table. I asked what they were making, and they said gee. I was previously familiar with gee as a purified butter product eaten with Indian food. In the course of the conversation, I lamented the cost of butter at the grocery store and my host dad, Martin, revealed to me that in shaking the gourd, they were in fact making butter.

And yesterday, I finally succeed in making my very own, completely homemade, tomato sauce. A little bit of internet research revealed that it wouldn’t be too hard, so I set about acquiring the ingredients:

 

            Tomatos: $1.30

    Onions: $0.25

            Green pepper:$0.10

            Dried basil:$0.70

            Savings: more than $2.25

How do you make tomato puree by hand? Use a grater!

And it turned out great! I can’t wait to use it on the pizza I’m planning to make for the family tonight.

The final product.

The next mission? Fresh yogurt from our cow’s milk!