The Recipes Continue

Don't worry--we haven't given up on cooking the street food.  It's only that I can't keep up with blogging.  I actually forgot to photograph the last 2 dishes I made.  Perhaps I purposefully forgot during my kashata disaster.  Kashata is a dessert with coconut, peanuts, and sugar, which are then rolled into balls.  I remember seeing it frequently sold in Kibera, always sitting in plastic containers with blue lids.  I'm fairly certain that it was typically rolled in sesame seeds too (although my recipe didn't call for any).  I don't know why, but I never actually tried kashata in Kenya, which is unfortunate seeing as mine didn't turn out at all. The recipe tells you to cook the sugar and then add the other ingredients.  And then magically the whole mixture is supposed to become sticky and roll into a ball.  Perhaps my phone ringing in the middle of my attempt threw the whole thing off.  Let's just say that mine looked merely like crumbs.  My friends decided to buy ice cream and use it as sprinkles on top...a very nice Valentine treat indeed, although not very African.  At least it got eaten.  We hate wasting food in my house (something about seeing people in Kenyan who often didn't have anything to eat will do that to a person), and so we get creative about finding ways to finish eating whatever we fix.

The next dish I made was a lentil stew from Ethiopia.  This one actually turned out nicely.  Basically it was jut lentils with nutmeg, garlic, and some other spices.  It was a basic dish, nothing fancy about it, but good just the same.  There were no disasters in my attempt.

Last night Aquila and I attempted making ginger beer, which is not alcoholic at all but very potent indeed.  We had to grate 1/2 cup of ginger, which by the way is soooo much, in case you've never grated ginger before.  Our hands were hurting by the end.  Then we poured hot water over the ginger and let it sit all night before adding sugar, lemon juice, and cloves this morning.  We had to dilute the mixture with more water and more sugar because the ginger taste was over powering.  The drink isn't exactly bad but it's so strong.  I told Aquila we won't be fixing this for any get togethers!  i only had a few sips, and now it's sitting in the fridge until I can handle a few more sips. 

I am feeling really blessed to be able to try so many new foods.  We have created our own little international kitchen, right here in the Midwest.  Hope you all are having a blessed week.  Enjoy the sunshine that God has given us today.