A meal for a Sister on her Birthday

Today is my sister Farida’s birthday. When we were little, you could lure my sister into your van as long as you had anything beefy.

I remember once when she appeared with a torn skirt all soiled with mud and my mum who was such a clever woman she knew her daughters too well for us to even lie to her and get away with it. My darling mother remembered that

1. She kept roasted meat in the kitchen
2. She last saw Farida go into the kitchen and not out
3. There is no door out of the kitchen, except for the one mama sat next to
4. There is a window in the kitchen that one is able to jump through

…Bingo…

That explains my sister’s appearance. My sister went into the kitchen to pinch a piece of roasted beef and got stuck trying to climb out the window. I will make sure all her future kids get to hear this story and tell them what a crazy kid their mum was.

 In Uganda when meat is roasted, grilled or dry fried in a masala, we call it Muchomo. So today am making a chicken muchomo, French beans salad and mashed potatoes in honor of my sister’s 20—something really old birthday.

Happy Birthday Farida and May you live to eat more and more of muchomo in your lifetime. xxx

For Chicken Muchomo Masala

Ingredients

• Vegetable cooking oil just enough (too much is when the onions will be left floating as you fry them)
• 3 large onions, sliced in lengths not cubes
• Hard Spices ( 2 huge Cinnamon sticks broken into smaller sizes, 4 cardamoms, 6cloves, ¼ teaspoon of whole black pepper)
• 1 whole skinless chicken, chopped into individual pieces (drum sticks, breasts, wings…)
• I heaped teaspoon of ginger-garlic mixture (more ginger than garlic)
• Powder spices(1 teaspoon of garam masala, ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder)
• Pinch of salt to taste

Directions

• Place the oil in a pan on a moderate heat
• Add the hard spices and let pop for 30 seconds or till you get the aroma
• Add the onions and keep stirring till it gets golden brown
• Add the chicken pieces and stir to get the onions all over
• Cover for about 5 minutes letting the juices cook the chicken
• Add the ginger garlic and keep stirring in intervals till the juices dry out or till chicken is a little tender. You can keep adding little water to help tender the chicken and avoiding it from burning
• Add the powder spices and let it cook till tender and dry
• Your chicken muchomo is ready, put aside waiting to serve

For French Beans Salad

Ingredients

• 1 handful of French beans chopped into 1.5” lengths
• 2 really large onions sliced in lengths for a salad
• 3 tablespoons Olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of White vinegar or lemon or lime
• Pinch of salt to taste

Directions

• Boil the French beans till tender adding some salt (do not cover when boiling. Covering with lead to discoloration of the beans from green to brown)
• Sieve and place in a wooden or preferred salad bowl
• Add the olive oil, vinegar
• Mix all and set aside to serve on the side of your muchomo

For Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 5 large Irish potatoes boiled till squashy tender
• ½ cup of milk preferably skimmed
• 2 heaped table spoons of margarine preferable for baking/cooking purposes
• A sprinkle of black pepper powder
• A pinch of salt to taste

Directions

• Mash the boiled Irish using a masher to avoid having huge un mashed particles
• Add the milk, margarine and mix on a low heat
• Add the black pepper powder, salt and mix all together

Yummy!!!!! There is a perfect easy meal for lunch, make sure with a kind like my sister around, you keep a drumstick aside for yourself lest you miss out on this delicacy

* To have ease with the hard spices you can buy a pack of pilao spices already mixed and use 1 heaped teaspoon