A Tribute to Slow Food: Some Traditional Tanzanian Recipes

I am continuing to help facilitate the sponsoring of the Watoto Foundation garden by Slow Food Mohawk Valley.  SFMV hosts monthly Wandering Fork dinners to fundraise and I was recently asked about sending some traditional Tanzanian recipes for replication at the next dinner.  I sat down with my homestay mother and this is what we came up with:

Dried fish:
-Tilapia or something similar (smoked or dried) - washed, boiled, and deboned
-Saute onions, tomatoes, salt and curry powder with a bit of coconut milk and the boiled fish
-Cook everything over low heat

Source here

Wali wa nazi (coconut rice):
-Wash rice if not clean (something that's definitely relevant here, probably not at home)
-Boil water mixed with coconut milk and prepare rice as you normally would

Pilau (spiced rice):
-Ingredients: white rice, oil, salt, Irish potatoes, garlic, onion, cinnamon, black pepper
-Saute the garlic and onions
-Add the uncooked rice and potatoes with salt and oil
-Keep turning until it mixes well
-Have a pot of boiling water on the side to add piece meal to the mixture and maintain a low boil until cooked

Source here

Matoke (bananas, meat, and beans):
-Boil meat (e.g. beef cubes) and beans (any kind) separately
-Peel green cooking bananas (I think plantains would be equivalent?)
-Saute tomatoes and onions on the side
-Mix everything together (cooked meat, cooked beans, sauteed onions and tomatoes, and uncooked/peeled bananas)
-Boil on high for 5-10 minutes and then reduce heat, cover pot, and cook until bananas are somewhat soft

Source here

Mtori (banana soup):
-Peel and chop green bananas into small pieces
-Dice onions, tomatoes, and carrots and stir-fry lightly
-Boil everything together (or boil bananas separately)
-Crush/mash the boiled bananas
-Mix everything like a porridge - add water (as much as you like for thickness of porridge), keep over heat and stir until desired consistency 

Source here

Greens:
-chopped into thin strips, saute onions, add greens and salt and stir-fry
-These greens are usually traditional leafy vegetables such as amaranth, nightshade, pumpkin leaves, spiderplants, moringa leaves, etc. but you can use any green vegetable such as spinach, cabbage etc.

Pictured here with Ugali

Source here

Also lemongrass tea is very common, and I had cow liver the other night, apparently my homestay family's favorite meat.  I could tell it was different, gamey even, but I couldn't place the flavor or the slimy texture.  Then I asked, thinking it might be rabbit or something.  Wrong.  When I found out, I gave mine to Lina, my homestay sister, because I couldn't stomach it, knowing what I was eating.  Needless to say, I won't be sending this recipe to Slow Food.