Mbaazi – Kaluhi's Kitchen

There is ALWAYS more than one way of preparing a dish. ALWAYS!!!! While we may have our personal favorites that we may prefer to stick to for one reason or another, there is no harm in exploring other options. I have always had mbaazi cooked in coconut milk, and I one day wondered how else could I prepare them and still bring out the amazing taste mbaazi inherently has? Coz just like everything else, there is more than one way of cooking mbaazi!! I asked you guys on twitter and my mind was opened up to all the different ways you make them. Velma Kiome (@mzinduzi) loves her’s with courgettes, carrots, matoke or potato, fresh herbs and spices of choice and she prefers that her mbaazi are fresh and green and not the dried kind. Chululups (@miss_patriciah) uses mbaazi instead of beans in her githeri plus with lots of veggie assortment and cooked as a dry fry. She taught me this dish is called Gítherí a njūgū (I love learning from my tweeps! Need to try it out!!). For me, besides having them in coconut milk, I like mine as a rich stew, similar to a bean stew, but with rich full flavors of garlic and thyme! Ready to step out of your comfort zone and try out something different? Buckle up!!

If I can close my eyes and really focus, I can clearly hear it. I can here the sound of the soft ocean waves breaking on the white sandy beach. I can almost smell the aroma of white jasmine flowers that have littered the lawn after a night of drizzle. I can almost feel the warmth and here the chatter of the townspeople as I scavenge the Lamu streets for my spices. If I close my eyes and really focus, I can feel the slow drift of the dhow at sunset. Nothing beats that experience!! I can taste the salt of the sea on my lips. I can taste all the delicious food they used to make for us. I can feel the sand on my toes; whose toe nails by now have the most hideous chipped nail polish as a result of spending too much time in the water. But who cares? Life in Lamu is about savoring moments that matter, not about seeking fleeting perfection. I often miss Lamu, more so when the pace of Nairobi threatens to bury me. But now that I cannot go to my special place at the moment, I will bring it to me through one of the dishes we had there alot: mbaazi wa nazi (pigeon peas in coconut milk). I hope when you take a bite of this dish, close your eyes and reeeeeaally focus, you will be on the beaches of Lamu with me eating good food all day long. Coz that’s what life should be about :DD