Ugali (Kenya)

I meet Paul Rottich in the Student Union at UAA. He is hunched over one of the several monstrous textbooks lying open on his table, studying for his Statistics class. A native of Kenya, Paul was one of the first in the slew of the Kenyans recruited by the Seawolves' coach Michael Friess to run for the University. He has just returned from Yakima, WA, where he helped the Seawolves to their conference victory with his eighteenth-place finish in the 5 mile race. After four years on the XC Running Team, Paul is now in his final semester of studies, finishing his degree in Finance.

Despite being hard at work, Paul is happy to take the time to chat with me about life in Kenya and to record a recipe for their staple dish: ugali.


"We eat it every day," he tells me.

In elemental terms, ugali is cornmeal and water. But Paul notes that it is often served with vegetables, such as kale, cabbage, spinach, or beets, and milk.

"We used to have a goat, but now my family owns a cow, so we get more milk," Paul tells me.

To make ugali, follow this simple recipe:

Ingredients:
(1) Cornmeal
(2) Water

Tools:
(1) Cooking stick
(2) Cooking pot

Procedure:
(1) Pour water into pot and boil
(2) Add cornmeal
(3) Reduce heat
(4) Stir with cooking stick until it thickens
(5) Turn off heat, cover with a plate, and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes
(6) Serve it
(7) No spices

Quotes:
"Ugali is an African meal made by mixing cornmeal and water only." "Mix it until you can smell it. It usually has a smell that indicates it's almost ready."

Recipes! We want 'em!

The Anchorage Food Mosaic Recipe Blog will contain recipes from all the amazing people that make up our community. Now more than ever we need to come together and celebrate our incredible diversity (there are 94 languages spoken in the Anchorage School District!) And what better way to do that than FOOD? Let us cook each others cultural foods, and share our stories with one another.

This Recipe Blog will contain photos of each person and the story behind their cultural food, as well as tips on where to buy ingredients, and local sourcing.

Please email recipe submissions to akfoodmosaic(at)gmail.com

The Anchorage Food Mosaic Project’s mission is to build community through our cultural foods.

In agriculture, a monoculture replaces lots of genetically diverse plants with one uniform crop, which is highly susceptible to disease and failure. In the same way that monocropping is dangerous to the future of a crop; we must encourage diversity within our community to prevent disease. In order for our community to thrive we need to embrace and nurture the “mosaic” of people in this city.

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