SO MUCH FOOD! || NAIROBI || KENYA || OCTOBER 2019

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Okay so this blog will be a little out of order because I’ve decided to tell stories about my trip rather than document it chronologically. At one point I will post the full itinerary in case you want to make the same trip or if you’d like some inspiration for planning your next journey to the continent. For my 30th birthday I decided to visit a region of Africa I’d never been to and do all the “touristy” things you do when you go. This is the story of the day I learned to make Kenyan Food….

We got up and got dressed and headed down to breakfast. It was in the lobby area of the hotel we were staying at [Ibis Styles Nairobi Westland] and was included with the price of the room so you know we we’re there EVERY MORNING!

Once we were done, we took an uber to the Tuskys supermarket near our destination to meet Agnes for a market tour and cooking class. I found Agnes’ experience on AirBnb and I’m so happy I did. I’ve got so many good things to say! I linked all her information below. She’s also got a YouTube where she shares how to cook a ton of dishes!

From the Tuskys we walked to the Wakulima Market near the Muthurwa Market area off of Haile Selassie Ave. to shop for the groceries we needed to make our meal.

We got a bunch of vegetables since we would be cooking beef for us and a bunch of vegetable dishes for Taste Bae to eat too since he’s vegetarian. There was so much going on in the market and you had to watch your back and face your front at the same time! People were squeezing by trying to barter for different ingredients. Large carts of supplies would barrel you down if you didn’t move out of the way. Luckily Taste Bae was bigger than all of us and when one of the carts came from behind and almost ran me over, he was able to divert it from rolling over my feet, ha! It was a lot but no different than any other street market I’ve been to in other regions of the continent. The ground was muddy and slippery just because it had recently rained a bunch in the area. It was set up like a farmer’s market with a maze of different ingredients and Agnes was able to maneuver us through the crowds to each of her favorite vendors. We bought tomatoes, cilantro, peas, corn, fig leaf gourd, carrots, onions, ginger, garlic, all the things! I knew whatever we ended up making was about to be good! There were people asking to help carry our bags and stuff just because they were familiar with Agnes and it was relatively easy for us to snap pics of everything without drawing much attention to ourselves because we pretty much blended in with the crowd.

On our walk back to where we could catch an Uber, we talked about the similarities and differences in running food businesses in her experience and in mine. It was fun to be around someone who loved to cook and loved food as much as I do! And to be around someone I could learn from.

We took an Uber from the market to her cooking space and talked about cost of living in Nairobi and the different neighborhoods.

When we got back to her cooking space, her sister was there who helped us as well. She and Agnes do this experience together. Agnes got to instructing me on what to do. I started by shelling the peas and shucking the maize.

We washed all the vegetables, chopped them in the required sizes and began cooking.

Cilantro and Fig Leaf Gourd. We had to peel the spines off of the fig leaf gourd. They were really prickly.

Rather than typing out all the recipes, you can check out her YouTube for them. I’ll just list what we made below. Agnes gave us all the tips, tricks, and secrets to her homemade spice blends, and how to build flavor the Kenyan way. Y’all know building flavor is one of my favorite activities! Agnes explained everything step by step and let you taste along the way to know what it’s supposed to turn out like.

First we made chai with coconut milk.

We made the best coconut curry type sauce I’ve ever tasted! It had tomatoes, onion, garlic, ginger, all blended into a puree and cooked down with coconut milk we made from scratch, coconut cream, and a little bit of tamarind.

We grilled some vegetables and ate it with the coconut sauce but to be honest I slathered it on all the food. It’s like if Obe Ata (Stew Base) had tamarind and coconut cream in it and was cooked down to a thick lovely sauce. It’s basically made the same way with the addition of the tamarind and coconut cream.

Everything was great but that was my absolute favorite thing! I’d eat it on EVERYTHING!

We also made Mahamri to snack on while cooking. It is a beignet like fried dough with cardamom and clove and it puffs up with a large air pocket in the center while it is being fried. I had to get the right technique down to get it to puff up. It took me a few tries, but I finally got the wrist action right.

We used the Fig leaf gourd to cover the peas, potatoes, and maize while they were cooking in the pressure cooker. Once it was all done, we mashed it all and blended the fig leaf gourd to make Mukimo, a dish that is served at most parties and gatherings, I was told. It came out a beautiful pale green color and is a vegetarian dish.

We also made beef biryani which has the steps pictures below. It had a lot of components and steps, but it was so freakin’ tasty!! I tried duplicating the recipe. Check out the KENYAN SHORT RIB BIRYANI recipe!!!

Once, all the food was done, and after I snapped a picture of my plate of course, we ate and chatted about different cultures, accents, politics, black billionaires, food, cooking, and our catering businesses. We talked about different slang in our respective countries. I learned about “anyhowly” like “you can’t just be doing things anyhowly” (haphazardly). And for them “I’m pressed means “you have to use the bathroom where here it means something completely different. Ha! We ate until we were literally stuffed; you know like the stuffed where you’re uncomfortable? I’m so blessed to have been able to share this experience with Agnes and would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you book her when you are in Nairobi. You WILL NOT be sorry! The amount of stuff you learn plus all the experiences you get make it the best experience you can book on AirBnB hands down!

We took a final picture together and said our goodbyes. We were there for quite a few hours, not because it took so long but because we were enjoying our conversations so much!

It was light when we started and started to get dark when we left. We caught an Uber back to the hotel. Outside of the hotel there were vendors selling different fabrics and stuff. Taste Bae was pretty into haggling at this point. It was his first time on the continent, so the concept was new at first. I saw a few things I wanted to get for my mommy and haggled them down to a price I felt comfortable with. I had to call her to tell her about how Taste Bae almost got played into paying more with a sob story they gave. She laughed because she remembered the game and how it is maneuvered, and all the times you get got when you’re first starting out. Living in Nigeria for 4 years, she picked it up really quickly. Taste Bae kept saying I “robbed” this lady with how cheap I got the items for, but he didn’t know that I just play the game to win, that’s all. I cackled on the phone with my mommy for a bit before heading to take a shower. We fell asleep relatively quickly after that.

I’m not sure what I’ll write about next. Maybe I’ll do another Instagram poll to figure it out.

Until next time…

Thanks for reading all these words!

Love ya!

Taste Tutor

TRAVEL BLOG THURSDAY - COOKING CLASS || NAIROBI || KENYA