Pilau – Kaluhi's Kitchen

I have always been fascinated with South African cuisine ever since I started watching Siba’s Table on Food Network. I have since embarked to become a great cook just as Siba is. In the process, I have researched more into what South African cuisine has to offer. And majority of the time, I always get something new to try out.

I love sampling recipes from African countries because I am almost guaranteed that I can get the ingredients here in Kenya too. Today, I made some Geelrys, which directly translates to ‘yellow rice’. It is a rice dish popular in South Africa and because the ingredients were available locally, I was more than eager to try this. It is a gorgeous dish, beautiful as it is delicious. The only ingredients I added were my two favorite spices: ground cumin and coriander.

If you cannot go to South Africa, Bring South Africa to you :).

Pilau is one of the meals that define Kenyan cuisine. Just like chapati, pilau is one of those meals that is ever present at any major ceremony in this country. Pilau is a rice dish that is cooked in a seasoned broth, with some pieces of beef, chicken and sometimes peas, nuts and raisins, and whose brown color is obtained from being fried in caramelized onions and a blend of spices. Global variations of pilau are pilaf/pilav of Turkey, Pulao of south-central Asia and Palaw of Iraq.

Pilau is associated with the people of the Kenyan coast, and I must admit, they make the meanest pilau but we are slowly catching up :). There are many variations to the recipe but today I will give you my take. You cannot have a Kenyan food blog without the most cherished Kenyan recipe!