Here the second installment in the series Food & Drink of Kenya,
N - Z.
Oh, I will try to keep to an English-International spelling with it...
(except for when running out of inspiration and Dutch comes first a couple of times ;-)
In time we will add some new foods (drinks) we might experience along the way.
Questions, remarks, and additions more than welcome!
nederlands-dutch ( = NL)
Dit zal voornamelijk in het Engels geschreven worden, de meesten van jullie weten wel de weg te vinden op een menukaart of in een keuken in het Engels denk ik ? Met af en toe wat toevoegingen in Nederlands of een woordje in het Swahili ertussen.
Hier deel 2 van N tot en met Z.
We zullen ongetwijfeld nog eea toevoegen als we meer geproefd hebben.
Vragen, opmerkingen en toevoegingen meer dan welkom!
N-
Nata de coco (cocon) desserts:
These are 'fruit puddings' made with condensed coconut milk and a fruit. Watermelon, Jack Fruit, Lychee, Mango, Peach, Strawberry, Pineapple, Apple. Matthew and me love these, the small version, see picture and I also eat the biggger ones.(like a small yoghurt size) These have cubes of fruit in. (Jane absolutely hates them because of their jelly like substance, Kieran does not care one way or the other).
Nyama Choma ( burned meat):
Think BBQ, Braai, Nyama (is a general word for meat) Choma (roasted, burned;-) restaurants are to be found everywhere. Most popular is the one with the best prices for goat's meat and the cheapest beers!
I had it once and am not a fan yet ...
Nuts:Cashew, Macademia
Out of Africa, Kenya Nut Company, Equatorial Nuts and many more.
Nuts mean business in East Africa and grown everywhere (even in the garden at Brookview).
Matthew takes a small packet to school every day and Mom & Dad have the Honey Roasted* Macademia ones with a drink @gin o'clock ;-) Of course from Out of Africa, the company that (in my opinion) should not produce/distribute coffee But stick with what they are good at, NUTS!
O-
Onions:
Any colour, or size widely available and used.
Olive oil :Not as common as in Europe, so more expensive as well, but it can be found. Even good old 'Bertoli' at a price...
Kenyans use fat (lard, gedroogd wit vet) to cook with mainly.
P-
Pasta:
Not as popular as rice yet, but easily bought.
It seems to me there is a "secret war" in Nairobi between the noodles & rice and Pasta & Pizza...
What I mean is there are lots of Italian (style) restaurants, but probably even more Chinese and even Japanese and Korean ones.
Pizza: deep frozen pizza's are fairly common but to our surprise mainly vegetarian ?
There are enough restaurants to order some as well!
Potatoes:
Sometimes a bit of a hit and miss, we have had 7 bad ones out of 10 once!, but widely available.
Red ones, white ones, medium size and very big.
Different varietys to us so it is trying out time ;-)
Pili, Pili: peppers (chili's)
Anyone feel WELCOME! to comment, but we understood that Kenyans generally do not like spicy food that much ??? In one month already I had more eyewatering, nose-running,brow sweating meal experiences here than anywhere else! (and that includes Birmingham Indian Food and Mexican restaurants).
All the Indian dishes we made (even if it says mild on the packaging), the Indian take-out, Chinese food, the
KFC Zinger (had one last night, am still sweating)...are all red-hot!
Anyway, the point is, something I have to go and look for in the Netherlands (outside Amsterdam) you can find in all shapes, sizes and strengths here Peppers!
Q-nothing...x...
R-
Rice:
One of the most popular staples it seems, can be bought in big 5 KG packs which we like :-)
S-
Sukuma Wiki:
Described by all guide books as spinach, I am (and so is my sister) pretty certain it is a sort of "kale".
Leafy green with a nice taste, one of the Kenyan things I like a lot!
Sweets: Lollies, That is what Matthew will say if you ask him to remember Nairobi in a year time..
They both get them from Mary or Lynette (our cleaners) and buy them themselves at the kiosk across the street. Different sizes, one bite to mouth stretching with surprising ingredients like bubblegum inside.
HARIBO is also big in Kenya and so are sweets from Tiger brands.
Soup:
We (Jane & me) being home for nearly every meal, like Bachelor and other cup-a-soups. But there are also several nice (vegetarian) cans of soup for sale. The variety one can find in the Netherlands is not available here, but Hakuna Matata, they have Heinz and Baxters.
T-
Tea:
Aberdere, Is Jane's favourite brand. There are loads more since Kenya is the world's 3rd Tea Exporter.
The local version, with herbs like kardamon, lots of milk and sugar is not "our cup of tea". Again strangely like the coffee made by Out of Africa (nut company), Aberdare tea is also made by a nut company (Kenyan Nut Company). Odd but still good.
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U-
Ugali: milk, cornmeal, water, that is basically what it is, and is a very common dish here.
the traditional method of eating ugali (and the most common in rural areas) is to roll a lump into a ball with the right hand, and then dip it into a sauce or stew of vegetables and/or meat. Making a depression with the thumb allows the ugali to be used to scoop, and to wrap around pieces of meat to pick them up in the same way that flat bread is used in other cultures. (Like injera in Ethiopia)
Ugali is relatively inexpensive and is easily accessible to the poor who usually combine it with a vegetable stew (like sukuma wiki in Kenya) or meat stews and makes a filling meal. Ugali is easy to make and the flour can last for considerable time in average conditions. Maize from which the flour is obtained is hardy and will grow reliably in dry seasons. For these reasons, ugali is an important part of the diet of millions of people.
Kieran is basically raised on it and Mary & Lynette promised to cook him some soon because he really misses it. (We are not huge fan's but I don't dislike it with some nice meat stew).
V-
Vegetarian:
Not widely available in packaged products, but more than enough choice with pizza's, several Indian and other Asian dishes and other food staples.
Vis: (fish)
Tilapia, Red Snapper, Parrot Fish, Sea Perch and Tuna.
With lakes and the coast there is enough choice, although all a but further away from Nairobi, so frozen...
The boys do not really like it much, so not very common here at our home unfortunately..
W-
Water:
Keringet, is the brand we started with, Mombasa Water is where we are now ;-)
(Grange, Aquamist etc. we tried most, but the last one seems to be fine and is the cheapest too ;-)
Keringet has some great bottles for restaurants and is trendy.
Personally I do not drink the "stuff" umless mixed with something (some whisky preferably) but Jane lives on it. You can't drink the (brown) water from the taps which comes out of an underground tank, originally out of a bore hole. Nor brush your teeth in it so we boil water and cool it down in a 3-litre bottle that we keep in the bathroom.
Wine:
Thats more like it! all these letters to get here ...
Leleshwa is the wine locally produced by Rift Valley Winerey in Sauvignon & Shiraz and really quite nice!
Many other wines for sale and which we therefore drink are South African, here a few:
Obikwa, Tall Horse, Guardian Peak (Kalahari Lion), Namaqua, Culemborg ( Yep PW en DW we like this one too !!!) , Bellingham, Mara, Zonnebloem, The Big Five and Goiya.
The last one we did not really like that much, all SA reds tend to be rather heavy in alcohol and so was this one. The ones just before that are very likable!
Zonnebloem (we knew from SA) has several grape varieties and blends and is very well made and nice to drink, bit more expensive but well worth it!
The Big Five makes just easily drinkable wines, both the white and red are very pleasant.
Van Loveren is a brand we really like all the wines of espescially the African Java Pinotage, YUM!
Gato Nero and Frontera from Chile were exceptions and the last one we did not like that much...
We also tasted some other wines at the Wine and Cheese fair a couple of months ago:
Torres- San Valentin, Parellada, great wine full and fruity with a dry finish.(Spain)
Boland-Cappuccino Pinotage, great red wine and one I will be looking for back home!( SAfrica)
X-nothing
Y-
Yoghurts:
Brookside or Bio (very nice and biological) we try and let the boys eat enough dairy and Matthew does like his yoghurts.
Z-
Zucchini:
Chain of greengrocers with a wide choice (even Brussels sprouts) in fruit, vegetables, and delicatessen.
Een ijsje op z'n tijd gaat er natuurlijk wel in! Sometimes an icecream is very nice indeed! (Here with Aunty Ruth in October)
Oh, and as promised a list of things we have 'missed' from home during the last months...
These are mainly Dutch food items, so written in Dutch, most things are not really missed by Jane.
(oh, en een lijst met dingen die we heben gemist uit Nederland de laatste maanden...)
Appelmoes, bij de frietjes ;-)
Beschuit, tegen de scheurbuik een nooodzaak!
Borrelnootjes, via "Nood-Voedselpakketten wel ingevlogen" ;-) (JANE)
Broodjes (afbak), Stokbrood! de keuze is reuze in Nederland denken wij, hier iets minder.
Chocolade pinda's, (JANE)
Drop, soms..
Erwtensoep, Boerenkool en Zuurkool of wel Winterkost.
Hagelslag,via "Nood- Voedselpakketten wel ingevlogen" ;-) voor versiering van taarten is er wel "chocolate sprinkle" of course maar niet hetzelfde als hagelslag.
Huzaren salade, een redelijk typisch West Europees iets, denk ik ? (Belgie,Duitsland en NL)
Ontbijtkoek, ik denk dat Peijnenburg het wel 'voelt' dat wij er niet zijn ! ;-))))
Kaas (blokjes) er is wel "Gouda" gemaakt door Brown's (wie anders..) maar is toch anders.
Kip-Kerrie voor op een toastje of broodje. (JANE)
Stroopwafels, vers van de markt! (Matthew en Peter)
Worst, Gelderse gekookte, lever, etc. natuurlijk is het niet zo beroemd als salami of fuget maar toch!
Zilveruitjes, augurken of wel dingen op (zoet)zuur ....
