In my
last post, I listed a number of firsts experienced during Kenya Safari, our three-month
orientation course. Some of those firsts were delightful, others not so much!
Another
first was eating chapatis.
When
Indians started moving to Kenya (around 1900, if I recall correctly), they
introduced chapatis—basically, flour tortillas.
Chapatis
consist of about three cups of flour and one cup of cold water stirred together
and kneaded for a few minutes.
After
letting the dough sit for half an hour, you divide the dough into little balls
about the size of a ping pong ball, sprinkle each with flour, and roll them out
until they’re very thin.
Traditional
recipes call for frying them in a dry pan over a hot fire for a few seconds on
each side.
By
the time we moved to Kenya, chapatis had become a staple food for Kenyans but
over the decades, they’d changed the original Indian recipe.
During
our orientation course, the chapatis our Kenyan staff prepared were a quarter
of an inch thick (usually thicker) with lard layered in, and fried in lard,
too.
In
Chapter 2 of Grandma’s Letters from Africa, I described them as “unleavened,
and with a dense, rubbery consistency.”
Often
people tear them into bite-size pieces and drop them into Kenyan stew—cabbage,
onions, carrots, and tomatoes boiled together. Sometimes they add a little
meat, too.
Mmmm
. . . . Recalling such meals makes my mouth water.
Sweet
memories—even though I’m sure all that lard could not have been good for us!
This is lovely Jacinta (more about her next week), along with another
staff member, James, working at our cooking fire under enormous fig trees in
Eleng’ata Enterit.
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| Jacinta and James at our cook stove during our orientation in Eleng'ata Enterit |
