Kenya

Hi friends. Welcome to a new segment of Bacon and Legs I’m calling Around the World In Tasty Days. I’m not making up any recipes here. I’m just reading about other countries and learning what they like to eat for breakfast, and then trying them out myself.

I think it’s crazy how trapped we are in our own little bubbles and I think making the effort to step outside and explore is an important thing to do. Maybe trying new foods won’t change your life but at the very least, it’s a new yummy experience. At the most, it could teach you things and heighten your appreciation for other cultures.

This week, I’m writing about the breakfast from Kenya that I made. I’ll link to the website where I pulled the recipes.

Two things…from scratch. First up was the CHAPATI. Holy fuck. I loved it. Chapati is a very basic fried flatbread. And it’s incredible. I made a batch, and while it took a little bit of time, it wasn’t overly difficult. You make up the dough, knead it, then let it set for a half hour. That half hour is magic. The dough becomes incredibly easy to work with and roll out. Then you roll it out, fry it up and set it aside. I ate some with breakfast and some with dinner. I specifically put a cinnamon and cabbage stew in the crockpot in the morning, knowing I’d have leftover flatbread to eat with it. But I almost didn’t because it’s so good you just want to snack on it all day. Awesome. I’ll be incorporating this into other meals in the future.

Next was UJI. Basically, a super bland porridge that works great as a vehicle for any other flavors you want to add in. Traditionally, that’s sugar and dried/fresh fruit.

But let’s backup. The recipe calls for corn flour and millet flour. I want to talk about these. Corn flour isn’t hard to find. Check out the gluten-free aisle that has all of the Bob’s Red Mill products. Make sure you get corn flour and not cornmeal. Corn flour is much finer. Millet flour I actually couldn’t find. I went to several different stores and none of them carried it. If your store does, great, go for it. If it does not, you can substitute rice flour, also in that gluten free section of your store.

It’s a simple recipe. Dissolve the flours in water and then whisk them into boiling water. Now, the recipe says to cook for 5-10 minutes. I am telling you, I didn’t need to cook it all. Once I poured it into the boiling water, it stiffened up immediately. I removed it from the heat and just whisked it together. I added butter, sugar and salt to the porridge until it tasted pretty yummy. Then I topped it with walnuts, dried cranberries, sliced bananas and a drizzle of honey.

It’s a heavy breakfast, I’m not going to lie. But damn it’s good. It would be perfect for a cold morning when you’re craving that bulk to keep you warm and push you through the day. I encourage you all to give these recipes a try!

Next up: Japan