Ugali is a mixture of maize flour and water cooked with an “ugali stick” until it turns into a hard white mound that can, nevertheless be curved off with the fingers in small bits shaped like a golf ball. The ugali is cooked in a sufuria (kinda a deep cooking pan) with the maize flour being added gradually to boiling water and mixed intensely and continuously until it is ready.
The process takes between five to ten minutes (depending on the skills of the Chef and the size of ugali) after which the resulting stone-like lump is patched on a wide plate ready to be served. To help the cooked Ugali retain its texture, it is sometimes covered with the same pot it was cooked in.
This treatment also helps preserve the ugali temperature which is important because when it gets cold, eating it becomes boring since it “over hardens” with time. “One stone” of ugali on a plate can be eaten by many people with every consumer slicing off a piece with a knife like some kinda cake. Sometimes, everybody eats from the same plate with the guests surrounding the ugali around a table.
The favorite combination with ugali is sukuma wiki (kales) fried in oil mixed with onions and tomatoes. The sukuma (as it is known) is chopped into small pieces then fried in a sufuria with onions also chopped into small pieces.
The onions normally come first then as they soften submerged in the heating oil, tomatoes are added just before the onions begin to turn brown. After mixing the combination, chopped sukuma wiki is then added (remember to wash them) and left to cook shortly, allowing the sukuma to retain its green colour. Salt is also part of the mixture then you are ready. A Kenyan who cannot cook sukuma (male or female) has had some “Kenyan” in him or her taken away.
If you have the resources, you can serve the ugali and sukuma wiki with fried meat. The addition of meat in the diet adds a sense of class because in Kenya, meat is a very expensive food stuff reserved for the middle or upper classes in society. The ghetto dwellers can make do with ugali plus sukuma but the well to do in society always spice it up with meaty stuff.
If a Kenyan is coming for dinner and you get this combination right, you will be surprised at how the Kenyan will open up. If you are not Kenyan, the first comment might be like you have been to Kenya or you have/have had a Kenyan BF/GF and that kinda talk. There is no way a Kenyan will accept that the combination is your own idea and prepare for an argument if you intend to crack such a joke.
This is because ugali is the staple food in Kenya and in the West where maize flour is scarce, a Kenyan will go that “extra mile” to try and get something close to it. In West Africa, ugali is the equivalent of something called “Fufu”.
Ugali Tourism
Of course, Ugali is not exclusively Kenyan. It is also consumed in other African countries but for a Kenyan, it is difficult to figure out how a diet can miss ugali in the menu for a prolonged period of time if all factors are right. In a post election crisis where the movement of food stuff is impaired, it is possible to understand if ugali suddenly goes missing but in a normal set up, there has to be ugali after every 24 hours.
In Sweden, Kenyans have turned to manner gryn (a kinda maize flour combination) although it doesn’t give the original version of the real thing. There is also a brand of maize flour called Pan which originates from Latin America and is sold widely in Sweden. It is a perfect replacement that gets the ugali magic almost to the level of a carbon copy.
When a Kenyan cooks ugali, don’t try to despise it because the taste might be rather weird if you have never been to ugalo land or never tasted it. Instead, try praising the Ugali and if possible, say something like “oh my God, everybody should be eating ugali… I love it”, then wait for the grand smile as the Kenyan absorbs the real impact of ugali in other cultures.
It is common to hear a Kenyan with a white spouse at a gathering with ugali presence claiming that the whitie likes ugali or can even make the thing. Secretly, it is a sense of pride to let others know that some work has been done to integrate the whitie into the “national ugali culture” so that when the thing is served, the whitie does not have to turn red with “what the hell is this fiffan” kinda surprise. Kenyans believe that white people rarely hide their feelings. There can be a crisis when a white spouse begins to claim that the ugali is tasteless in the middle of a huge ugali-eating crowd. For this reason, they are normally “fixed” before being exposed to the stuff.
If you are new and ugali is served with sukuma wiki, lighten the Kenyan up by saying something like: “This tastes nice. The combination with ugali is just perfect! I have to learn how to do this”, then you are done. If the combination involves the meat, praise the soup and then try to wonder how the Kenyan cooking culture is fantastic. The Kenyan will melt and, most likely, talk about you positively on the phone when you are gone. If you are dating a Kenyan, just say that you need to come home and eat some ugali. You shall have captured your prey with very few words.
Round off the evening by making a humble request. The meal was so delicious that you just have to learn how to make the ugali. Be prepared because the Kenyan might actually offer to come to your crib to teach you how to do it.
They claim that they have just exported Obama to the United States and entrenching ugali in other cultures could just be a continuation of a new brand of exports that could increase interest in Kenya as a tourist attraction.
“Ugali tourism” could lead to thousands visiting the country to taste ugali, just like it is happening in the case of Kogelo, Obama’s village which has not only become a tourist joint but also a “protected area” and part of the country’s “national heritage”. I understand that the government is working hard to convince the UN to make Kogelo another wonder of the world!
Part of the political crisis in Kenya is linked to unaffordable maize flour which has made it impossible for Kenyans to put ugali on the table. Consequently, the country is being threatened with “Ugali revolution” that could lead to the collapse of the fragile Coalition government.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
Osewe wacha urogi. Manze nimekuwa nikimeza mate tangu nifunguwe KSB juu hiyo ugali na sukuma wiki plus nyake inatuma nimiss home. Spouse wangu mswidi ame ban kupika ugali hapa kwa hivyo mimi hungoja saa zile hayuko ndiyo naikalia kfua wazi. Yeye husema ugali haina ladha kwa hivyo ni potatis, spaghetti na rice kila siku. Nitaweka hizi picha kwa desktop yangu nimezange mate kila siku.
Bw OO Yaani umemiss ugalai sanaa mpaka umechora!..mama watoto amejam kukupikia au?? Leta mleto. Basi nikwambie hivi..ulipochora hiyo stori ya ugangaa nilienda kwa store yaangu na kubuy Pan..jana nimeshiba sanaaa isipokuwa nilimiss sukuma wiki..unazo kwa frigi yako ya thelugi au tuwait hadi summer ndivyo zipatikane kutoka kwa wakulima hapa stoki? Wikendi njema na usinisahau kunipaha habari au fununu za sukuma..niko redi kuchota mikebe mbili hivi kwa info!
KSB: Kuna kraisis kwa sababu I have to get it after every 6-12 hrs so tuna nego accord ya at least 12-24 hrs. Kuandika ya kwamba wakenya wanaipenda ina saidia propaganda b4 saining of the accord next wik. Kuna si-kuma wiki ili toka gishagi lakini zimededi kwa hivyo tuna mek du with photo copies from some Thai shop hapo kwa cona na sam fis. Bai the wey r u sitil planing that risach projekt 2 kip ahead ov that gai?
Nairobi street food Pt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBqUb5LQRPw
Nairobi street food Pt 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZOSA-vvKJY&feature=related
Traveling to Nairobi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZrP4_Dc_K8&feature=channel
Luseno you make me nostalgic; I just love Kenya despite the bad things. Muigai wa Njoroge and his singing mates give us the politics of UNGA in this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O1CDi_O2y8&feature=related
K’Osewe Ranalo Restaurant in Nairobi is another spot where ugali is key with various local dishes. Okoth Osewe, are you a shareholder there?: http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/05/kosewes-renalo-restaurant-nairobi/
Ugali is great :o)
I really be proud of being kenyan and i like ugali very much..bt i would like to know how to we call the remains ugali in the sufuria after cooking
KSB: In Luo, it is called “odeyo”. If you cannot find an alternative word for it in your language, you can invent it by incorporating “odeyo” in your new word. In Lingustics, this process is called the “derivative” method of word creation. If you however decide to just use the word in your language (like safari is a Swahili word also found in English and has the same meaning in both languages), the process is called word “adaptation”. Either way, you get your word and you will be more happy to have found your word for the promotion of the word “ugali”. A sentence construction can read like “to remove odeyo from sufuria, you first need to fill it with water.