Swahili’s do it sitting down

Our next stop, Mombasa was a mere 40-minute flight from Nairobi.

Once we had cleared, not only customs but also the melting wall of heat and humidity- we were ready for lots of good cooking here.

Sean and Carole ready for take off

Swahili food is delicious- it has a strong Arabic influence but is also distinctly African- loads of spices are used, in food as well as in drinks- spicy chais and coffees are commonplace.  We were served a simple cup of hot black tea with grating of fresh ginger- so good in the sweltering heat.

The rice pilau’s here are a real specialty and are cooked on a small coal stove called a “jiko”.

For our first stop we were guests of Mensa and Nina, and their four lovely children, in a small village just north of Mombasa called Mtwapa.

Mensa is the local life -guard on the beach, but also know as the Coco-Master for his memorable dishes with coconut milk. A jolly gentle fellow- who cooked with passion. “Isn’t cooking a woman’s job?” was our question.

“ I learnt to cook from my father- he simply decided to break with tradition and learnt to cook. Except pilau , ‘he didn’t like it, so he didn’t cook it”.

Next, we met with Aysha, a pretty young newlywed,  she didn’t speak much English and was alittle shy (although she was quite have to have us photographed with and without het veil, a different relaxed interpretation to the Islamic faith).

A portrait of Aysha

Aysha cooks as if she was born with a wooden spoon in the hand- completely instinctively, and showed us how to grind coconuts on the mbuzi (she grinds about 30 a day..just for use in her daily cooking- they love the stuff here!) Aysha fist made mahambri- coconut and cardamom spiked fritters- mmmm!

Mahambri

When she started cooking her pilau- she moved her work station from the kitchen counter to the verandah floor- she fired up the Jiko, surrounded herself with pots, bowls of ingredients and tools, perched on a very low stool and proceeded to cook the whole meal on the floor- apparently very typical of Swahili cooking.

Swahili style