The familiar and exotic pleasures of Kenyan cuisine

MANILA, Philippines – What was quite unexpected was what we thought would be unfamiliar turned out to be surprisingly familiar. The Niama Soup or Kenyan beef stew reminded us of our own Filipino-style mechado or even perhaps beef kaldereta.

“People say my Kuku Njugu or chicken in peanut sauce reminds them of kare-kare,” says Rachaleve Kamau, “but it’s my own recipe. It’s not typical Kenyan. Of course, we have our cuisine in Kenya, but I am putting my own twist into our local cuisine. That’s why I call it Rachaleve’s Kenyan cuisine. I want to put my name because the weird thing about Kenyans is all Kenyans have their own kind of cooking. Every family is different. So maybe the way I make my Mukimo (mashed peas and potato mix) is not the same as someone else. This is my version.”

Rachaleve prepared her own version of Kenyan dishes at her first pop-up kitchen in Arrozeria at the Century City Mall in Makati. STAR columnist Cheryl Tiu, who founded Cross Cultures, an events platform that aims “to promote the exchange of cultures through food,” organized the one-day-only lunch event.

Previous events featured Indian cuisine as well as Ethiopian cuisine. The Taste of Kenya event reminded us that, “Africa is not one country but rather a continent of 54 countries, each with a very different cuisine.”

Kenya’s geographic location, an expansive territory that lies on the equator in the African continent, exposed it to diverse influences from traders coming from the Arabian peninsula and the Indian sub-continent as well as Europe, having once been colonized by the British. This, perhaps, explains the presence of aromatic spices such as cumin, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves, as well as coconut milk in a number of their dishes.

Rachaleve was born in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, to a Kenyan dad and a half-Tanzanian, half-Congolese mom. She says she learned how to cook from her mother and grandmothers at the young age of eight. She was 19 when she came to the Philippines in 2009 together with her mom, two sisters and a brother, to live with their stepdad, a businessman from Davao.

“I’ve been to Davao. It’s beautiful,” she says. “I’m Filipino at heart.  I love being here. If I didn’t like it, I would have left a long time ago.” She likes Filipino food. “I like monggo and dried fish,” she says. “I love it.” She finds certain commonalities between Kenyan and Filipino food. “You love chicken, we love chicken as well,” she says. She served her specialty, Kuku Njugu or chicken in peanut sauce, together with a common Kenyan side dish, Mukimo, which is a mix of mashed peas and boiled potatoes with whole kernels of maize.

The Niama soup or Kenyan beef stew was ladled over Kenyan Pilau or spiced rice, and served with Ugali, a Kenyan staple made from cornmeal that is “added to boiling water and heated until it turns into a dense block of cornmeal paste.”  The idea is to get a piece and use it to scoop the sauce from the stew in the same way you might use a piece of bread for the same purpose.

No, we did not have Tusker, the popular Kenyan beer, with our meal. Instead, the dishes were paired with Layer Cake wines — chardonnay and shiraz. The dessert Nazi-Viazi Kitamu looked — if not tasted — uncannily familiar. The coconut-and-sweet potato pudding reminded us of our cassava and sticky rice cakes. There was a dollop of something red and creamy on the side of the thick slice of sweetness. When asked what it was, Rachaleve said it’s her secret ingredient: “I put kisses into the food,” she laughs.

Rachaleve has showcased her unique Kenyan dishes in bazaars as well as private catering services. She can be booked for events and functions through her Facebook page.

She would like to open her own restaurant someday. “If you haven’t tried my cooking yet, you have not lived,” she quips. Photos Julie Cabatit-Alegre