Swahili 101: How to say hello (just say everything!)

The one thing a phrasebook won't tell you about Swahili, or at least Zanzibar Swahili, is that they do greetings in a BIG way here. By which I mean, if you're with anyone you might remotely be acquainted with it's completely acceptable to say pretty much every greeting you can think of. So you get to learn your greetings.

Here's an example (with rough translations).

A: No problems? (Hujambo)

B: No problems.

A: Wassup?

B: I'm cool.

A: How've things been lately?

B: fine. How's home?

A: good. Are the kids fine?

B: they're fine. How's the village?

A: good. How are you this morning?

B: fine.

A: good?

B: very! And you, are the kids good?

A: they're all good.

B: thanks to God!

And now you can move on with the day

http://africaenpositivo.com

When it comes to saying goodbye, it's a different matter. Don't be surprised if the person on the other end of the phone answers your question with "ok" and hangs up. Face to face, goodnight often works, and goodbye for semi formal situations, or see you.

But don't skimp on the hellos until proven otherwise!!!

Aussiebarian Savoury Mince

I don't think my childhood would have been complete without good old savoury mince. In our case, mince, onions, frozen peas/corn/carrot mix, a bit of Worcestershire sauce (later to be joined by barbecue and soy), maybe a stock cube, and a heck of a lot of gravy. AWESOME the next day (or 3) on toast for brekkie, and unparalleled as a jaffle filling.

So I've been on a sambusa (samosa) kick for the last few days, and I thought I could kick the habit by figuring out how to make the meaty goodness inside. 

I didn't manage to get over my sambusa cravings but I did come up with something edible that I think is the Aussiebarian answer to savoury mince (no gravy powder here :( ). Next time I want to sauce it up a bit with more liquid and a bit of flour.

You will need:

250g beef mince

2 onions (about as much onion as beef is ideal)

1 small carrot

1 clove of garlic

1/2 inch of ginger

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Juice of 1 lemon

1 large tomato

1/2 dessertspoon garam masala

1/2 dessertspoon curry powder (I ended up with Zanzibari curry powder: no tumeric, the colour comes from mango powder).

Method:

Prep: finely chop veggies, make ginger and garlic into something approximating a paste.

1. Fry the onions until just soft and set aside.

2. Fry the ginger, garlic, garam masala and curry powder in a little oil with a little lemon juice.

3. Add the mince and remaining lemon juice and cook until meat is brown.

4. Add carrot, tomato and coriander and simmer until carrot softens.

5. Add onion and cook until warm.

6. Serve. We had it with bread.

Creative Eavesdropping 101

Random ramblings:

I love overhearing things and imagine the rest of the story. Yesterday in the kitchen I could hear a little kid saying "apple. Apple! Apple!!!" With increasing exasperation. In my imagination, the Dora DVD has frozen at the question and answer part and he's cranky at the tv. More likely he just wants an apple, but I like my version better :)

Cute nephew type to add visual appeal. Not the one I could overhear.