Chapatti Makin'

Lately, I have been so curious and adventurous with cooking. I want to learn to cook all things Kenyan. I guess I want to 1) Please my husband. He is Kenyan after all and it is his favourite food. 2) Try new things and bring new varieties of food in my house. 3) Save money - things are getting so expensive here in Kenya and money is tight. It is so much cheaper to make your favourite foods. 

I think I have done really well so far! After a year of officially living on my own and living on a tight budget, I have learned to cook. I never cooked back in Canada. In fact, if you put me in a kitchen back home and asked me to cook, I wouldn't really know where to start. 

But I have learned a lot in the last few months. Some of my favourite meals include sukuma (kale), meat stew and ugali, homemade pizza, spaghetti, coconut noodles with ground beef, rice and vegetables with teriyaki sauce, and beans and rice (I LOVE beans. To be honest, I could eat them everyday. Especially with a little coconut milk in them. yummy!).

Often, we buy chapattis outside (they go great with beans). They are about 15 shillings for one. Not too shabby. But, as I learned yesterday, making them is so much cheaper. In the end, I figured I made each one at around 7 or 8 shillings!

I rounded up my bestest girlfriend, Rahab, who happens to also be a master chef, and bought all ingredients and cooking supplies. Then the process started. It is a little bit of work. Frying them can be quite hot and oily. But they end product is simply scrumptious. 

The mixture is simple: flour, water, cooking fat and sugar. Simple. But the kneading was pretty exhausting. I will have a strong arm if I keep at it.  

 The rolling is another issue. Trying to make them perfectly round ain't easy. I had a few that came out the shape of Africa. 

Voila!! Perfect, flaky, hot chapattis! Kelvin was so surprised!!! He actually didn't believe me and asked to see the frying pan (you have to use a special pan to make them). We had an awesome meal. And we have some left over for tonight!