Tag: East African
Kuku Paka (Coconut Milk Chicken)
Kuku Paka (Coconut Milk Chicken)
Kuku paka is a popular Kenyan dish highlighting it’s Indian influence. Kuku in Swahili means chicken, while Paka in Bengali means delicious. Yes, this is delicious chicken. Chicken pieces are marinated in a heavily spiced coconut milk marinade. Traditionally the chicken is grilled over charcoal to add smokiness to the flavor, but you can roast the pieces in the oven if you don’t have a grill. Once the chicken is cooked through, it simmers for a few minutes in a reduction of the marinade. The chicken is best served with rice and sweet potatoes.
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken pieces skinned
- 2 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 Roma tomatoes chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2” ginger minced
- 3 bird’s eye chilies minced
- 3 cups coconut milk
- 2 limes juiced
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Purée the onions, garlic, tomatoes, chilies, and ginger in a food processor. Mix together with the spices, coconut milk, and lime juice.
- Marinate the chicken with half of the marinade for 8 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil.
- Bake the chicken for 45 minutes.
- While the chicken is roasting, heat up coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add in the remaining marinade. Simmer for 20 minutes until thickened.
- Place the roasted chicken pieces in the sauce.
- Simmer for 5 minutes.
Gored Gored
Gored Gored
Gored gored is simply beef sautéed in butter and berbere spice. This dish literally takes 5 minutes to make. Top sirloin has the best price point for the tenderness. Serve the beef on injera with spinach or lentils.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 1 lb top sirloin cut into 1” cubes
- 2 tbsp butter or neter kiba
- 2 tbsp berbere
Instructions
- Melt the butter over low heat. Mix in the berbere.
- Add in the beef, making sure that the cubes are coated in the spices.
- Turn up the heat to high and sear the beef for 3 minutes.
Berbere Spice
Berbere spice is a building block for all East African cuisine. It has a nice smokey and spicy taste. It is the main spice ingredient in Zigni, Doro Wat, and many other Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Somali dishes. Berbere spice is great on meat, fish, vegetables, and eggs.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 1 tbsp granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tbsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 tbsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cardamom
Instructions
- If you have any whole spices, lightly dry toast them in a pan for a couple of minutes. Then grind them in a coffee grinder used for spices only, or grind them by hand in a mortar and pestle. Mix all the spices together.
Mango Chicken Curry
Mango Chicken Curry
This is a great first dish to try as an intro to Somali cuisine. A simple mango curry sauce is made from simmering coconut milk, curry powder, cumin, brown sugar, and mango pulp to a thick curry sauce. In a separate pan, you make a chicken stir fry with pretty much any vegetables you want. I used snap peas and red bell peppers. Carrots, broccoli, and zucchini would work as well. The serrano peppers are used to bite into if you want some spice. Then you add chopped mango and the curry sauce and simmer for a couple more minutes. You can serve the mango chicken curry with basmati rice and more mango.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Mango Curry Sauce
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp African curry powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 cup mango pulp
Chicken Stir Fry
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs cubed
- 1/2 medium red onion sliced
- 5 garlic cloves munded
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1 medium red bell pepper sliced
- 1/4 cup white onion finely chopped
- 4 serrano chilies
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 mango peeled and cubed
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Bring the coconut milk to a boil in a sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Stir in the curry powder, cumin, and brown sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the mango pulp. Simmer for another 5 minutes on low heat until thickened. Set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add in the chicken. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add in the sliced onion and garlic. Sauté for another 6 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
- Add in the peppers, snap peas, and serranos. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Season with salt and the chili flakes. Add in the mango. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Mix in the mango curry sauce. Simmer for a couple more minutes.
