You know how they say don't play with your food?

I don't really care about that ;)

Making kachori on Urojo Day.

Happy kachori mix (mashed potato, lime juice and a hint of chilli)

Kachori kasa! (Kasa=turtle)

The final product :)

Shemegi!! Reasons to love live-in in-laws #1

Recently my brother in law came to see if he would like to be our watchman at home. Enslaving your younger siblings (including cousins, extended family, in-laws, etc) appears to be a Zanzibari tradition I am yet to fully wrap my head around. But if Shemegi Aussiebarian is typical, they are worth their weight in gold.

Reason 1 to love your live-in in-laws: cooking!!!

They can teach you how to make deliciousness like this:

Saturday's Urojo Day feast :)

NB: Urojo Day isn't an official holiday, but hey, let's start a trend: every last day of May I can cook urojo in memory of the first time I learnt to cook Urojo, King of Zanzibari food :)

Home-made urojo... I think I'm obsessed..

And they cook dinner!

Rice and mchuzi wa mbatata

Nom!!!

Asante sana bwana shemegi!!!!

Glossary:

Shemegi: brother in law. Also applies to cousins and close friends of husbands, or wives of siblings in certain circumstances.

Brother: also applies to first cousins.

Mchuzi: sauce/vegetables in sauce

Mchuzi wa mbatata: potato sauce

Asante sana: thank you very much. See the bird in The Lion King.

Urojo

Dear India,

Thank you for the amazing Zanzibari food.

Love,

One very grateful Aussiebarian.

Urojo: Nungwi

So, I thought I knew what urojo was. I'd fallen in love with this mix of mostly deep fried goodies (potatoey kachori, cassava chips, falafely badia, boiled potato, boiled egg, jalfrese when real potato is running low), at home in Nungwi. 70 cents of deliciously satisfying flavours and textures.

More Nungwi urojo

And then today, I realized what people had been talking about all this time.

The real deal

Urojo is sometimes called Zanzibar mix. It's a Stone Town specialty. My husband (almost as good a reference as Wikipedia ;) says it originated from India. In Stone Town, they take it to a whole new level. 

Three kinds of salad, a few different sauces, mishkaki (don't ask what kind of meat. Beef or goat, I'm happy not knowing), egg, potato, badia, kachori, cassava chips... Or any combination you want: I saw a guy get just cut up chapati and jalfrese in his. Add soup, let it sit a bit for the juices to soak in and voila!

Stown Town urojo vs Nungwi 'mshamba' urojo

Tips:

1. Take your own container. Try and ask a local in advance to find out how much it'll cost to fill the container if you want to look extra cool ;) otherwise do my thing: fill 'er up Scotty! Or Juma, or Ali, as the case will more likely be in ZNZ.

2. Eschew the egg if you don't want to be rocket powered for the next couple of days. Unfortunately the green stuff isn't the parsley to negate the noxious side effects of consumption of delicious food.

3. Go heavy on the salad. I dare you. Nommmm!

4. Find a queue of locals at lunch time and join the line for the good stuff. I found this gem near the ferry on my way back from buying electricity. I've never been more happy after paying for electricity in my life!

End-the-power bill-blues urojo

5. If you're a strict vegetarian, this probably isn't for you. They have a habit of dipping the mishkaki in the soup halfway through cooking the mishkaki. But if you can ignore the faint taste of chargrilled goodness, eschew the mishkaki and go for egg as your protein hit.

6. Eat urojo. Love life. Be happy.

Cheers!

Mrs Aussiebarian.

Badia

Kachori

Glossary: 

Mshamba: country person. With kind of backward/not as good connotations, but in a cheerful way.

ZNZ: My (and the airport's) lame-o abbreviation for Zanzibar.