Trust me there is no such thing as a gourmet meal, believe me. Gourmet is just a fancy name of a creative meal in an experienced chef’s kitchen. Who said we are all not experienced chefs? I have been cooking since i was 5 years old, boiling water, making tea, warming food…. all that.
If you can manage to cook ugali and eggs you are qualified to make a gourmet meal. Let me give you some examples of some creativity in the kitchen we can call it ‘gourmet mwitu’.
Makeshift tortillas
Traditional tortillas are basically made by mixing unleavened cornmeal or wheat flour with water to form a dough. Seeing as we about to skip that whole step, it is safe to say these are makeshift tortillas. These version of tortillas are way easier to make.
Simply start by making pancakes as you normally do, let the pancakes be really thin and a little crisp.
Once you are done preparing your pancakes, this is the fun part. Simply open your fridge, look at your fruit stash, pick what you like and mix them all together. It can be leftover meat, avocado, beans or even fried eggs. You can add mix whatever you think works together.
Afterward, wrap them all in your pancake and have at it. You can also top the mix in the pancake with mayonnaise or even ketchup if you would like. This makes such a perfect breakfast switch away from the norm.
Chipo-Mayai
This was a hit when people discovered that the combo was ‘something’.
If you are the kind that buys fries and fails to finish them, then you know that overnight fries do not taste as good as fresh fries. You can have some chipo mayai.
Place your fries in a pan over medium heat. Let them fry a little in the oil they have already absorbed the first time they were fried. No need to add more oil since they could get soggy. After a while, beat your eggs on top of your fries and stir slowly ensuring that your fries are coated with the egg yolk or if you prefer egg whites. You can add a little black pepper to taste.
Alternatively, you can fry some onions in a pan, add the fries then chop up a bit of coriander (dania) and sprinkle it on the fries and let them fry for just a minute. As always, you can add a little black pepper to taste.
Garlic spaghetti
If you do not like garlic, then I would not recommend this recipe. However, if you are a fan of garlic, you will definitely enjoy this. The thing I like about this recipe is how simple and time friendly it is. If you are low on time and there is no leftover food you can eat, grab your spaghetti and whip this up.
First, make the spaghetti as per usual. Boil water then place the spaghetti into the sufuria until they are ready. Once they are ready, empty them out into a container. Grind some garlic and some ginger and fry them with some onions. When they are fried, add the spaghetti and stir.
The trick is to ensure that the spaghetti are moist and not dry. You can do this by running them through cold water before you mix them with the onion, garlic and ginger mixture. Chop up some coriander and sprinkle them on the spaghetti. Add salt, black pepper, cumin and maybe a little garlic powder if you are a garlic freak like me.