Ugali
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ugali is a Swahili word for an East African dish (also sometimes called sima, sembe, or posho) which is a cornmeal product and a staple starch component of many African meals, especially in Southern and East Africa. It is commonly made from maize flour and water, and varies in consistency from porridge to a dough-like substance. When ugali is made from another starch, it is usually given a specific regional name.
The traditional method of eating ugali (and the most common in the rural areas) is to roll a lump into a ball, and then dip it into a sauce or stew of vegetables and/or meat. Making a depression with the thumb allows the ugali to be used to scoop, and to wrap around pieces of meat to pick them up in the same way that flat bread is used in other cultures. Ugali can also be eaten with a spoon or a knife and fork.
Ugali is relatively inexpensive and is thus easily accessible to the poor who usually combine it with a vegetable stew (e.g. sukuma wiki in Kenya) or meat stews and makes a filling meal. Ugali is easy to make and the flour can last for considerable time in average conditions. Maize from which the flour is obtained is hardy and will grow reliably in dry seasons. For these reasons, ugali is an important part of the diet of millions of people of Sub Saharan Africa.
In Kenya it is known as ugali in Kiswahili and ngima in Kikuyu. It is also known as kuon in Luo. Vuchima in Luyha and in the Kisii language (Ekegusii)it is called Obokima. In Tanzania, It is known as Ugali. In Uganda, ugali has several regional names including "posho".
[edit] Similar foods
In South Africa, cornmeal mush is a staple food called mealie pap; elsewhere in Southern Africa it is called sadza in Zimbabwe, and nshima, in Zambia, and "Oshifima" or Pap in Namibia. Fufu, a starch-based food from West and Central Africa, may also be made from maize meal. In the Caribbean, similar dishes are cou-cou (Barbados), funchi (Curaçao) and funjie (Virgin Islands). It is known as funche in Puerto Rican cuisine and mayi moulin in Haitian cuisine.
Ugali is similar to foufou from West Africa, pap from South Africa, polenta from Italy and grits from the southern United States.
