Thursday, May 31, 2012

Cooking posho and doh doh

Last Friday was so awesome because I got to spend the day with my new acholi mom. Her name is Christine and she is one of the women that makes beads. She is actually the translator for the group because she speaks english really well, which is probably why I have gotten to know her the best so far. She invited me over to her house to learn how to cook some acholi food. So we first walked to the Layibi Market and bought all the ingredients we needed. On our way home, we stopped to buy a sugar cane stick. It was my first time ever seeing sugar cane like that before being manufactured into the sugar we use back home. So back at home, we started out cooking doh doh. It's a green vegetable that is very common to eat with rice or posho. We cooked on the charcoal stove in her kitchen area outside right next to the house. It was super fun because she was the best kind of teacher. She would start out by showing me what to do and then she would let me do it. After we cooked the amazing green leafy vegetable with onions, tomatoes and some spices, we made posho. Posho is a staple that everyone eats here. The majority of the population here eats posho and beans everyday. Posho is flour mixed into boiled water and you just keep stirring it until it forms a big ball of white goodness.


6 comments:

  1. So overall, do you like the cooking? A lot of people I know who go to Africa describe the food as one of the hardest parts of living there. You are actually the first person I know who expressed liking the food. I am pleasantly surprised. I am so happy for you that it has been a good experience.

    Actually I am just so happy that it seems like everyone seems to be having a good experience in their respective places.

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  2. Did you really just call posho "a ball of white goodness"??? That's disgusting! Maybe I just hate it because the villagers always feed it to us and it gives me running stomach, but still...
    Oh, gosh.
    Ok, so do you have chapati there? Sorry if you posted about it earlier but I am not often on a computer (just my little kindle, which is not very conducive for looking at blogs), and I don't want to go through your whole thing to find it.

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    1. Yeah, I like posho! I don't eat it super often though. I'm sorry it's not treating you well. Yes, we have chapati!!!! Do you have rollex stands everywhere? Which I guess is supposed to be "rolled eggs", but everyone says rollex. I love rollex :)

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    2. Whoa, I never realized the "rolled eggs" thing. Yes, I'm pretty sure every American I know here loves rollexes! Oh goodness! I love reading your blog and knowing what's up, by the way.
      What do you eat if you don't eat posho super often? Matoke? I feel like those are the real staples here. Yesterday we were talking to women about what they grow in their gardens, and someone mentioned doh doh and I totally knew what it was (kind of) from your blog post! It was great.

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    3. So I actually have only had rolled twice and this last one I had recently made me feel sick. They are sooo greasy! I don't like them anymore. I think I'll stick with posho and beans:)

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  3. Okay. Fresh green vegetables? I am way jealous. I am currently in the process of convincing my friend Vidya (a PhD nutritionist) that the tiny green leafs sometimes included in sanbar does not deserve the name "spinach". It sounds like you are having a great time. Good luck starting the interviews. Laura and I have found ourselves in a similar situation. I can't believe we've been here for six weeks.

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