Shoppers Magazine 02

SIMBA SHOPPERS MAGAZINE - THE CHRISTMAS ISSUE
2. Smear the fish generously with the
paste, coating carefully all over. Tear
some squares of banana leaf. Take a
banana leaf, hold it over a flame for a
few seconds, this softens the leaf and
makes it easy to fold the leaf.
3. Pack 4-5 strips of prepared fish to
a square. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, if
necessary. Fold over into a packet, pin
down with cloves or tie with banana
fibre or toothpicks. Prepare all the
packets this way.
4. Steam the packets for 30 minutes or
bake them.
5. Do not undo the packets before serving.
It is the privilege of the diner to
enjoy the puff of aroma that issues
with the steam on unpacking the fish.
Beans in Coconut Sauce
Ingredients:
• 1 lb red kidney beans, soaked overnight
in water
• 8 cups water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 white onions, diced
• 3 plum tomatoes, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup coconut milk
• salt and black pepper, to taste
Method:
1. Drain the beans (after soaking overnight
in water).
2. Put the beans and water into a
stockpot.
3. Simmer over medium heat for 1 to
1 1/2 hours, or until the beans are
tender.
4. Drain and return the beans to the
stockpot.
5. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over
medium heat.
6. Sweat the onions, tomatoes and garlic
until tender.
7. Add the onion mixture to the beans.
Add the coconut milk and bring to a
simmer over low heat.
8. Cook for 5 minutes.
9. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
10. Serve warm!
Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
• 170 g of thinly sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 litre of milk
• 15 g of butter
• 1 heaped tbsp of flour
• olive oil (or vegetable oil)
• salt and pepper
Method
1. Heat a little olive oil and melt the butter
in it.
2. Add the mushrooms and sauté until
the mushrooms are soft and dark in
colour.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and
set aside.
4. Add the flour and pour in the milk.
5. Mix the ingredients together, stirring
continuously.
6. Return the pan to a medium heat and
cook the sauce, stirring constantly
until it thickens.
7. Season with salt and pepper and cook
for 5 – 8 minutes.
8. Serve hot.
SIDE DISHES
Chapati
Ingredients:
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 or 1 cup water (depending)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• melted butter
Method
1. Mix all ingredients together; divide into
fourths.
2. Roll each into a circle; spread thinly
with melted butter.
3. Roll up like a small jellyroll and then
roll it into a coil.
4. Roll flat again
5. Shallow Fry in a hot heavy skillet until
brown on both sides.
Biriyani
Ingredients
For the stew:
• Half a raw papaya
• A glass of fermented, sour milk (Kivuguto)/natural
yoghurt
• 6 big tomatoes
• 6 big onions
• 5 cloves of garlic
• A stem of ginger (or approx. 100
grams)
• 100 grams dried cumin seeds
• 2 small tins of tomato paste Salt to
taste
For the rice:
• 1 kilogram of rice
• Yellow or orange food colouring
Preparing the stew:
• Grind the dried cumin seeds to a
powder
• Slice the tomatoes; grind the garlic,
ginger and papaya.
• Put the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and
papaya in a blender, together with the
tomato paste and 2 cups of water.
• Blend the ingredients to a smooth
paste.
• Cook the paste on medium heat,
including the cumin seeds, for about
10 minutes.
• When the stew is boiling, add the
chicken and the sour milk and add salt
to taste
• Let the stew cook until the meat is
very tender (the sour milk and raw
papaya soften the meat).
• Peel the potatoes and let them soak
for a few minutes in food colouring, so
that they get an orange glow.
• Fry the potatoes in oil, like crisps, but
do not slice them up; simply cut them
in two’s or four’s depending on the
size of the potato.
• Add the fried potatoes to the stew.
• Slice the onions and fry them in the
same oil as the potatoes.
• Add three quarters of the fried onions
to the stew, save the rest to add to
the rice as decoration when serving it.
• When the potatoes and onions are
fried, add a cup of the oil used to fry
them to the stew.
• Add (little) water and/or salt to taste,
depending on the texture of the stew.
• Preparing the rice:
• Wash and clean the rice if necessary.
• Cook the rice according to the instructions
on the packet.
• When the rice is almost dry, add a
little food colouring to it by making a
small hole on top and putting in the
food colouring. Spread out the food
colouring over different parts of the
rice, but not everywhere. When the
rice is ready, gently stir it so that the
colour is spread out.
• Sprinkle the leftover fried onions on
top as decoration.
Serve the rice and stew separately. You
can serve this dish with fresh chilli paste
and a salad
Plantains/ Mizuzu
Ingredients:
• A few ripe plantains
• (Un-ripe plantains are usually green
in colour and hard. As they ripen, they
become more yellowish in colour and
a little softer, and when they are getting
too ripe, they start to have more
and more black patches, and they are
really soft).
• Vegetable Oil
Method:
1. Put oil into a fry pan/saucepan, about
½ inch (or about 1½ centimetres) high,
and place on fire on low heat.
2. In a bowl or plate, slice or dice each
plantain as follows (I’m assuming the
plantain is lying down, so vertically
means cutting along the circumference,
and longitudinally means cutting
along the length).For larger slices,
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