Because everyone had left for camp in Jinja, Patrick, Tara, and I had the flexibility to get creative with dinner. This blog entry is dedicated to instructing a Uganda visitor with the resources and knowledge to recreate a fantastic dish:
Cheese. In my opinion, one needs cheese for tacos. Tara and I went to Quality Supermarket and I went straight for the tiny cheese section, opting to pay for the treasure with my own money so that it didn’t eat up our organization’s dinner budget. Cheddar cheese goes for about 3,000- 12,000 Ugandan Shillings [$2-$6]. It’s worth it.
Tara and I explored our options for “tortilla chip”. We randomly found some Dorritos on sale, which could do the trick.
With minced beef also in our cart, we waited in line for a very long time. The queues here move so casually- no sense of urgency to eliminate accumulating lines of customers.
Our next stop was the market- a travel clinic’s nightmare, I’m sure. With raw meat juice trickling down from the wooden butcher stands and into the mud where vegetables are on display, I think about what the nurses would think. I imagine the absence of hand washing, the bare and mudded feet that stomp upon beds of cabbage, and the chicken feathers and waste that scatter out from the overcrowded cages do not paint the picture of sanitation that the travel clinics encourage.
We purchased tomatoes, cilantro, avocados, onions, green peppers, jalapeños, and ginger from a few market stands before strategically weaving across the muddy high paths of the streets to the house. We first made a stop off to a woman selling gonja [roasted sweet bananas] wrapped in newspaper. Mmmm…. A snack before starting dinner.
A bit of bleach and water eliminated the memory of the environment from which our vegetables come. Tara’s mom had brought a precious can of refried beans on a visit, which smelled wonderfully as Tara cooked it on the stove, beside the pan of beef. Taco seasoning was another small item of incredible value that Tara had in her possession. I worked on chopping some vegetables for a salsa [which tasted incredible with the Dorritos!] as well as the guacamole.
Patrick went out to buy some chapatti from a street vendor to serve as tortillas. By the time everything was ready, we were delighted at the site. We wolfed down the delicious fiesta feast, with much of our conversation revolving around the food.
1 comment:
That is awesome. I wish I had the opportunity to cook in an American dish in a foreign country. Every time I have traveled, I have had someone cook for me...not to mention the lack of a kitchen.
Safe travels home as your return. Those long flights can be tough.
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