This is a healthy and great-tasting vegetable dish made of spinach and chunky mashed potatoes and carrots. You can serve it as a side dish or you can eat it with bread, muufo, anjero, rice, or you can even toss it with fresh pasta. It is an easy dish and is nutritious at the…
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One of the things we miss about Somalia is the way the whole family used to eat the midday meal together. In Mogadishu, civil servants used to finish work at 2:00 pm, which was also the end of the school day. By 3:00 pm, the hustle and bustle of city life would wind down and…
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English Af-Somaali Français عربي Yemeni Hareesa www.xawaash.com Hareesa is one of those dishes that remind us of Eid. No Eid is complete without a piping hot dish of Hareesa served with sugar and browned butter. Hareesa originated in Yemen and it is made of barley and meat (usually lamb) that are cooked until the fibres…
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This is a simple chicken stew that goes well with the Somali Chapati (Sabaayad), the Potato & Cumin Rice (Pilau), or Maanda (Muufo). It’s a typical Somali stew flavoured with Xawaash (Somali spice mix). Growing up in Somalia, the chicken we had there were all free range. The meat was tougher and required a much…
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This is an easy and tasty rice dish. It brings back beautiful memories of Mombasa, Kenya. However, this dish is not limited to Kenya but is popular in many parts of East Africa. The cumin seeds gives it a flavour that is hard to resist and the potatoes make it very delicious. There are…
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English Af-Soomaali Français عربي Swahili Fish Curry www.xawaash.com When we started this blog, one of our objectives was to feature recipes from neighbouring countries. This is one such recipe that is popular among the Swahili-speaking peoples of East Africa. We added a few touches of our own and we simplified the recipe. This dish is…
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Zijjo zaa Gelle (Corn Grits) is a staple in Brava, Somalia. The Bravanese are known for maanda or muufo Baraawe (Bravanese bread), but this is the main dish served for the midday meal. Unlike soor (polenta-style grits) that is popular in other parts of Somalia, these grits are light and fluffy just like couscous. However,…
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When my mother’s maternal grandfather moved to Mogadishu, he stayed at his daughter’s house. All his life he was a pastoralist but as he became old and feeble, he decided to settle down. City life was new to him and he had to learn a few things the hard way. One of the problems he…
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We have received so many requests to make this dish that we moved it up in the list of recipes that we want to post. It is quite understandable though why so many wanted us to post it. This one-pot rice dish can be very addictive. The flavour imparted to the rice from the goat…
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This is an easy and very quick dish that is useful to have in your repertoire. It’s fantastic when you get unannounced visitors who need to be fed in no time. Somalis, or at least first generation immigrant Somalis, are known to just show up without calling ahead. Please don’t misunderstand us, ’cause we’re not…
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