In East Africa, it is called Ugali, in West Africa it’s referred to as Fufu while in some parts of Southern Africa it goes by the name Papa. This is Africa’s most loved staple food that can be found in different parts of the vast continent despite going by different names. Today I am going to show you how to prepare this famous meal.
Ingredients.
Before you start cooking, you need to ensure you have the following ingredients ready; maize flour or corn flour, water, beef, onions, tomatoes, garlic, bell pepper, green pepper, lemon, salt and other preferred spices. Some also prefer to serve this particular dish with some vegetables in addition to the beef stew.
Preparation.
Let’s first start with preparing the beef stew.
Chop the meat into small pieces. After that rinse it with some water. Pour the water used for rinsing and add some clean one. Add some salt and vinegar and place the cooking pot on the cooker and boil until it’s tender. As the meat is boiling, cut the onion, tomatoes, garlic, bell pepper and green pepper into small pieces. When the meat is ready, add some cooking oil, onion, tomatoes, garlic and both the bell and green pepper. Cover the cooking pot and let the mixture boil for like 10 minutes in average heat.
After ten minutes, squeeze the lemon juice into the mixture, then add the other seasoning like Royco, Beef Masala, salt and some little water. Cover it with a lid and let it boil for another ten minutes for it to be ready.
Once the beef stew is ready, it’s now time to cook the ugali. In a separate pot, boil one cup of water. Once it starts boiling add little portions of the maize/corn flour as you stir. Repeat the process until the dough is thick. Continue to stir until the whole dough becomes smooth and hard enough. Cover the pot with a lead and leave it to simmer for like five minutes before you remove the dough from the pot onto a plate.
Then serve the beef stew in a separate bowl or plate and also cut the ugali dough into small pieces for easy eating.
Serve both while still hot.
How to eat Ugali
Both the ugali and beef stew complement each other. Therefore, one is advised to use their bare hands not folks to eat. Cut small chunks of the ugali dough and dip it into the beef stew and take it straight into the mouth. One can complement this process by adding the pieces of beef into the dough as they dip it into the soup. This meal can as well be accompanied with vegetables, fruits or any drink like juice or water.
Bon appetit!
