Spicy cooking secrets of Zanzibar

Squashed into the back seat of the dala-dala(local minivan buses), escorted by the chatty Heelal and the quieter Sa’id, I marvel at how a thirteen seater van can so easily accommodate twenty – no, we’ve just stopped again, twenty two passengers! Taking the dala-dala from the markets to the village on the outskirts of Stonetown is a great way to start my one-on-one cooking lesson with cook Afura in her home, as this is definitely a full immersion experience. Heelal is one of the people who have set up this network of mothers who take tourists directly into their homes and teach them some staple Zanzibar dishes, giving the family a new way to earn money and me a great way to experience a small slice of their lifestyle.

A curry cook-up.

Travelling through Tanzania has already shown me that curries of many types are a very common dish, and it’s something I often cook myself at home, but I am surprised to find the Zanzibar version has no curry powder or tumeric at all, it focuses on the spices that grow here. In a large pot over the charcoal brazier, we add a sliced onion into the hot oil. I find it harder than expected to peel and roughly chop three potatoes and a small eggplant, as the only knife is very blunt, but once I’ve added those to the pot I find it much easier to grind a generous amount of garlic and raw ginger with the mortar and pestle – using at least half a handful of each, more if you like a strong curry. Then I have about five minutes to wrestle with the knife again as I peel and chop three tomatoes and add those to the pot. We wait another five minutes and add a peeled and chopped mango – firm but not green. A couple more minutes and we add about 5 tbsp of tomato paste and stir and then mix in a cup of water to get the right consistency.

The final ingredient is four small fried fish – we use sardines, crispy fried, but any small strongly flavoured fish will do. It adds that same bite that fish sauce or anchovies add in other cuisines. Now we let it simmer away until the potatoes are soft, and then take it off the heat and let it settle while we prepare the other dishes, including the chapatis to mop it up with.

Spicy samosas.

This is another dish adapted to Zanzibar’s plentiful spice supply, and easier to master than the chapatis. By this stage I have given up sitting on the low wood stool (as I have lost all feeling in my legs) and alternate standing up to watch, and squatting down when I need to peel or stir. We peel four potatoes, chop into four pieces, boil till soft and then mash. Meanwhile we finely slice a red onion, and in the mortar we pound together two tbsp each of cardamon and cloves and two tsp of rock salt. All of these are added to the mash and set aside until the pastry is ready.

The dough is much easier to make than the chapati dough. Afura rubs 3 tbsp of soft butter into 2 cups of plain flour. We start adding about 1/2 a cup of water, bit by bit, kneading it in as we go until the dough is smooth, but not elastic like the chapati. We divide the dough into small golf ball sized balls. Each ball is rolled out into a rough rectangle about 10-12 inches long and 4 inches wide, and then cut into 3 rough squares. A spoonful of mash is placed in the centre of each square, and then the dough is folded in half diagonally over the mash, and the two unfolded sides are folded over again to seal the samosa. Now its time to cook in a deep pot of very hot oil – we test the heat by adding a small piece of spare dough first, if it puffs up and cooks immediately, the oil is hot enough. We cook in batches until golden brown on the outside, and stack on a plate to drain.

The refreshing taste of hot Masala tea in a hot climate.

Masala tea in Zanzibar is similar to spicy chai teas worldwide but with its own features. Masala tea is drunk both hot and cold (chilled even), and is drunk black, not mixed with milk. The first one I try it is cold, but the taste of spices creates heat in the mouth and a lingering aftertaste with a real bite. I have made this at home a few times already since I got back and am still working on getting the balance of quantities right, (and scaling down the size of the recipe) but it’s a good one to experiment with – my first attempt had too much cinnamon, my last attempt had too little, but both very drinkable.

At Afura’s we started with about two litres of boiling water and then added

• a handful (or cup) of lemongrass chopped into rough lengths of  2-3 inches – this started off as a clump of 3 or 4 fresh lemongrass stalks
• a handful (or cup) of roughly chopped ginger
• half a handful of fresh cinnamon bark (not something I have found locally so I substitute 5 or 6 cinnamon sticks)
• a couple of tablespoons of crushed cardamon seeds and cloves from the mortar and pestle.

This mixture boils away happily while we make the samosas, and then when we are ready we add half a cup (or half a handful) of black tea leaves on top of the boiling water, boil for another 2 minutes ( no longer or the tea leaves can start to produce a bitter taste) then take off the heat and pour through a fine strainer. The tea is now ready to drink, adding sugar to our own taste. The cloves give it a nice peppery, slightly numb aftertaste that I really enjoy.

Eating the spoils of the cooking.

Lets face it, one of the best things about a cooking class is eating the dishes afterwards, and my mouth has been watering for a while over all these amazing spice smells we have been cooking up. So its time to rip off some chapati and use it to scoop up some curry, nibble on a samosa and wash it all down with cups of masala tea. Its all delicious, and luckily we’ve cooked large quantities which means the extended family all get to eat it as well. I sit cross legged on the floor with two of the men, Sa’id and one of Afura’s sons. I ask if Afura is joining us for the meal, and Sa’id tells me that she isn’t, as she is not hungry now. The penny drops and I ask if, as a Muslim household, the men and women always eat separately, and Sa’id tells me that they do. I ask then why am I eating with them, and they reply that it is OK for a female guest to eat with the men. I suspect they mean that they are prepared to ignore their customs when it is a paying guest, but it’s their house and their rules, so I tuck into my little feast, happy that half of each dish we have made has been taken to  the next door room where the woman are eating. At least I get to pay the pre-agreed price directly to Afura, for her to split amongst the others involved, so I leave feeling that in spite of the eating arrangements, she has some real control over this business.

Cooking classes are still an embryonic business in Zanzibar, so if you are interested in doing a cooking course you may be able to arrange it through your hotel, or I can recommend you arrange it direct with Heelal:

Heelal Tours & Safaris Ltd; Mr Denge, Manager;  Mobile +255 7733 20121;  email dengeramadhan@hotmail.com

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