Eating on safari … dishes from Uganda and Zambia and Kenya for you to make at home
How can you possibly feed guests who, when not on safari, eat in the best restaurants on the planet? This was the dilemma faced by Nicky Fitzgerald, founder and owner of Angama Mara, the glorious, extraordinarily exclusive safari lodge that sits high above Africa’s Great Rift Valley, overlooking Kenya’s Maasai Mara, considered by many to be the loveliest game reserve on the continent.
The decision, finally, was to create dishes that were less fiddly, more authentic, with fewer imported ingredients, more home-grown, never fancy, always good. And whether the meals were served as a picnic in the middle of the grass plains of the Maasai Mara, in the kitchen garden where guests are encouraged to pick their own veggies and toss their own salads, or in a lantern-lit forest listening to the call of the hyena, they were always delicious and memorable Out of an African Kitchen is an anthology of recipes, reminiscences, anecdotes and stories from this bush kitchen … it’s a book to linger over, earmarking recipes like North African casseroles and Moroccan minestrone, Maasai honey biscuits and Swahili chocolate pots, Goan fish curry and Ugandan Rolex (a flavoured omelette wrapped in a chapatti … rolled eggs … get it?). It’s safari food at home … an absolute joy. PenguinRandomHouse
SWAHILI MUHAMRI COCONUT ICE CREAM SANDWICH
Everyone loves fried dough … the Italians with their bomboloni, the French and beignets, koeksusters from South Africa and jelebi from India, for example. In Kenya there are two ways of frying dough, mandazi from the hinterland and the lighter, more elegant and utterly delicious muhamri from the coast. We’ve included the recipe for the Swahili muhamri on getitmagazine.co.za, but here’s the rich, delish and really easy coconut ice cream.
COCONUT ICE CREAM
You’ll need: 2 cups fresh cream; 1 x 400ml can coconut milk; 1 x 385g can sweetened condensed milk
To make: Whisk the cream until soft peaks form, then fold in the coconut milk and condensed milk. Freeze until ready to scoop into the muhamris.
CHILLED BEETROOT SOUP
All the fresh fruit and veggies at the lodge are grown in the shamba (the Swahili word for kitchen garden), where the challenge is not the successful growing, but keeping out the elephants and eland, the porcupines and baboons, and the nondescript speckled mousebird (the biggest thief of all).
This beetroot comes straight from the shamba.
You’ll need: 6–8 medium-sized beetroots, thoroughly washed; 2 cups cold water; 2 cups vegetable stock
1 Tbsp sugar; 300ml buttermilk; 200ml yoghurt plus an extra 50ml for serving; 1 Tbsp lemon juice; salt and freshly ground black pepper; fresh dill, finely chopped.
To make: Peel the beetroot then roughly grate (wear gloves!). Put the beetroot into a large saucepan and cover with water (use more if necessary – it must be covered). Bring to a boil slowly, then turn down the heat and leave to simmer very gently for 20 minutes (they must not boil too rapidly). Once the beetroot has softened, add the stock and sugar. Stir well and refrigerate until completely cold (for at least 4 hours).
Before serving, liquidise the soup and add buttermilk, yoghurt and lemon juice. Season well. Serve with a swirl of yoghurt and dill. (Serves 6).
Kitchen notes: At Angama Mara all the soups are made with their own vegetable stock (but a good store-bought one in liquid form works well). This soup can also be prepared with a good chicken stock.
WITH OLIVE TAPENADE
This recipe is from the lodge … where guests dine out on the deck, looking down into the reserve, where they’ll see giraffe journeying across the open grasslands, a family of elephant and another of buffalo. We can’t help you with the view, but can give you the recipe.
GAZPACHO
You’ll need: 2 ½ cups diced cucumber; 1 cup diced red pepper; 2 cups diced ripe tomatoes; ½ cup diced red onion; 4 cloves garlic; 2 cups tomato juice; ½ cup olive oil; 2 tsps sugar; 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce; salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To make: Blend all the ingredients together and chill. Garnish the soup with a generous blob of tapenade and a swirl of good olive oil. (Serves 1)
OLIVE TAPENADE
You’ll need: 1 cup pitted black olives; 2 Tbsps capers; 2 cloves garlic; ½ tsp chilli flakes; ½ cup fresh basil; ½ cup fresh parsley; 2 Tbsps olive oil
To make: Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use. Will keep for up to a week.
Compiled by: KYM ARGO
