Sunday, January 16, 2011

Uganda - Ugali and Chapati


Background
Ugandan cuisine has an East African base, modified by the influence of the conquering Arabs and English. The biggest influence the English brought to our breakfast was really Indian influence. I always had a scope of the British Empire in my mind but I never realized how much influence the Indian citizens of the Empire had as they migrated out.
The biggest problem searching for information on Ugandan breakfast is that President Obama made an appearance at a prayer breakfast about Uganda's proposed anti-homosexual laws. This made it impossible to search by "Ugandan breakfast" and we had to get more creative with our query.
We found that Ugandan breakfast consists of ugali and chapati. It is basically the same as Tanzania. I was unable to find a Ugandan cookbook so I used online resources to try and find recipes specific to Uganda. The ugali recipe can be found here and the chapati recipe we used is here. The chapati recipe is a little free form our more detailed interpretation is follows.

Chapati
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 red onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • oil for frying
  1. Mix dry ingredients, onion, and garlic in a bowl.
  2. Slowly add the warm water (I would start with 1/4 cup) and mix it into a doughy consistency.
  3. Add more water as needed—the onions and garlic are going to contribute some moisture to the dough, so add the water slowly.
  4. Knead until you have a tough doughy consistency.
  5. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
  6. Break the dough into tangerine-sized balls, then roll the dough into pancakes 6 inches in diameter. (Put flour in between the chapatis when stacking them to prevent sticking.)
  7. Heat a frying pan and spray a thin layer of oil into the pan.
  8. Fry one side of the chapati until it starts to brown, then apply oil to the uncooked side of the chapati, flip it, and cook the other side.
Serve with the ugali on top of the chapati

Results and Discussion
This breakfast was very filling and pretty easy. The only really involved part was constantly stirring the ugali while it cooked. I am not a big fan of ugali. The first taste is really nice; it has a good salty taste and is a little creamy. As I eat more of it it just becomes bland and thick. For Tanzania I thought it might have been undercooked, but I know that was not the case here. Ugali is food for quick energy and not for taste.
The chapatis were very dense and chewy. The red onion and garlic were nice additions and added some subtle flavors. I would like to try it cooking the onions and garlic prior to putting them in to the dough to enhance this.

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