Maraghwe Bhajiya soak up some of the coconut milk like dumplings, yet still have a crispy, cragginess I adore. It’s rustic, warming and a beautiful vegan meal.

Corn vs. Maize

Make Makai Paka with either corn or maize. The latter takes longer to cook, is less sweet and more mealy than its’ counterpart. The choice is yours.

For the sake of time and availability, I use corn. Either fresh from the cob, tinned or even frozen will do.

British sweetcorn is abundant at this time of year so this is what I’ve used in my recipe. Having said this, please work with what you have and what you like the taste of.

What is Makai Paka?

Makai Paka is a Kenyan speciality, most popular amongst the South Asian community in East Africa. Other non-vegetarian varieties exist in the form of Kuku Paka (chicken) and Machli Paka (fish).

A corn variety of the popular dish has likely come about due to the abundance of the ingredients locally, and due to the Asian vegetarian population. The dish usually incorporates large pieces of corn on the cob.

My recipe for Makai Paka & Maraghwe Bhajiya

My recipe for Makai Paka is vegan and has the addition of kidney bean fritters (Maraghwe Bhajiya). This isn’t a common addition but one that echoes the addition of moong daal bhajiya to other Asian-African dishes like Channa Bateta and Zanzibar Mix.

I first grill the corn on the cob and then remove them from the cob. They then get the coconut milk treatment. A long and gentle simmer to coax out the juices and intensify the sweetness of the corn. It’s a beautiful contrast alongside the mild spices and citrus juices.

My version of Makai Paka doesn’t include corn on the cob because I wanted to create a version you need only a bowl and spoon to enjoy.

Simple spices: Makai Paka & Maraghwe Bhajiya

The spices in this dish are simple, as with all East African dishes. Traditionally, you should let the ingredients do the talking and use spices sparingly to enhance them.

The only rule is to balance sweet, salty, hot and sour, as is also the case with traditional Gujarati cooking. Indeed, if you like Gujarati-style Kidney Beans & Sweetcorn nu Shaak, you will love this dish.

Memories and meals

What are your favourite food smells? For me, you can’t get any better than veggies roasting over an open fire.

The flavours of corn, aubergines, peppers and okra and onions are all heightened when you introduce them to flames.

I have such precious memories of holidaying in Mombasa, melting away in the aroma of fire-roasted maize on the cob, mohogo (cassava) and sweet potatoes.

These, combined with the lingering smell of hot coals, gasoline and frying potatoes in the salty, coastal air transports me to a happy place. It’s almost as comforting as the welcoming warmth of my bed at home.

A trio of cultures

I’m lucky enough to have grown up with three cultures; British, Indian and Kenyan. I grew up in the 90s, lived in an all-white area and was forever told that my house/packed lunch/hair always “smells like curry” by my peers.

If that wasn’t odd enough, I was also the only vegetarian at school (remember this was before “plant-based” and “vegan” diets were mainstream and insta famous).

When my lunches weren’t cucumber sandwiches and crisps, they were eyeballed with a mixture of curiosity and fear. Ghee-cooked thepla, bateta nu shaak, dahi and samosas.

Those lunches were always the most delicious. By the time I got to 15, I stopped giving a toss about what others thought, cooked shaak-rotli in my home ec classes and often came home empty handed because my friends had eaten it all.

My parents were flabbergasted.

The self-conscious episodes of my youth have made me incredibly proud of my triple-cultured upbringing. Being a British Indian with East African roots is what’s made me who I am today.

We ate the best, most varied meals and connected over food in the most wonderful way. Each meal was a talking point; it had a story and there were facts, techniques and anecdotes behind it.

Even now, we talk about our favourite family dishes daily.

How to make Makai Paka & Maraghwe Bhajiya

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Makai Paka & Maraghwe Bhajiya

Course Main Course

Cuisine African, Indian

Keyword african, beans, coconut, fritters, kidney beans, stew, sweetcorn

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the Makai Paka (Corn in Coconut Milk):

• 3 large sweetcorn on the cob
• 1 medium potato cubed into 1cm pieces
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 2 green chillies chopped
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 300 ml water
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Fresh coriander

For the Maraghwe Bhajiya:

• 1 x 400g tin cooked kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 140 g chickpea flour (besan)
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 green chilli finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 tbsp coriander finely chopped
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Oil for deep frying

Instructions

• To make the Makai Paka, first roast the sweetcorn over a flame on your gas cooker. You can also place it under the grill or on a barbecue until it has black spots all over. Allow to cool.
• Strip the kernels from the cob and set aside.
• In a large pan, add the water, coconut milk, chillies, garlic, turmeric and salt. Bring to a boil and add the potatoes and corn. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and coriander and remove from the heat.
• To make the bhajiya, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, crushing some of the beans between your fingers and keeping some whole.
• Heat a wok or deep pan with oil to 160ºC/320ºF. Use a teaspoon to pick up the batter and another teaspoon to carefully push the batter off, into the hot oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes, turning and moving frequently until golden and crispy.
• Serve the Makai Paka in bowls and top with the hot and crispy Maraghwe Bhajiya.

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If you like this, you’ll love my recipe for Vegan Ugandan Rolex

Love Sanjana

The post Makai Paka & Maraghwe Bhajiya appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

Channa Bateta (or CBs as we called it as kids) was the simplest of dishes using very few ingredients, but dad would put his heart and soul into it. He’s always been a well-seasoned cook and one that adds a fistful of this, a splash of that and a pinch of something else… and he makes cooking East African classics like Channa Bateta look so easy he could be doing it with his eyes shut. The son of two brilliant cooks, he acts as cool as cucumber raita about his mad skills and he nails flavour-packed East African dishes, chutneys and chaats every time. He’s got “chatpata” (hot, sour and sweet) flavours down. What I owe him greatly for is his wonderful encouragement and support over the years with my cooking. I started out as a curious toddler with a taste for Doodh and Khichri (stewed rice and lentils with milk). It was my equivalent of porridge and I’d wolf it down as I watched my Mum roll rotlis, thinking I wanted to be just like her when I was big enough to reach the stove. She’d give me pieces of dough to practice rolling and I’d sit on the floor cross legged in the tiny kitchen above our shop and roll rotlis using my coveted kids chapatti set from Popat’s, an Indian homeware store in Wembley. Needless to say, my rotlis totally sucked. They weren’t soft round, they were chunky frisbees of play-doh which my mum would still pop on to the tawa and cook into a biscuitty puck. And it was dad who would eat them up and tell me how delicious they were. Everything I know is down to those “map-of-Britain” monstrosities that were only fit for the bin. If he hadn’t have eaten them and told me they were great, I’d probably never have fallen in love with cooking and trying my absolute best in sharing that passion with others. So thank you Dad, you’re the source of my motivation, determination and self belief.

At home, if ever a bag of Seabrook Ready Salted crisps, Kenya Chevdo (a kind of potato-based trail mix) and lemon wedges were on the counter top and I instantly knew Channa Bateta was for dinner. You see, this dish is traditionally served with a crispy topping that comes in the form of said crisps, chevdo or even cassava crisps. A squeeze of lemon brings the whole thing together so what you’re left with is an orchestra of tender potatoes and chickpeas, a spicy chilli-laced coconut broth, fresh and fragrant coriander, a crunchy potato chip topping and sour raw mango chutney that brings the entire thing to life. It’s so balanced, filling and flavoursome… and all without trying too hard.

I posted a recipe for Mombasa-Style Kachri Bateta before which is a similar kind of thing but uses sour tamarind as the broth base. Channa Bateta is quicker and the heartier of the two. Filling carbs like potatoes, cassava and ugali are the essential sources of energy in East Africa. People work long hours, often have multiple jobs and of course, it’s damn hot. Usually what’s needed is a hearty, energy-rich bowl of stew or savoury porridge to keep bodies fuelled throughout the day.

I use tinned chickpeas because life is too short when you’re just home from work and are in need of a quick-fix meal (and that’s what this is). If you follow this recipe, it should take no longer than 20 minutes from start to finish. And that’s not including time to do the washing up which, if you were really smart, you’d enlist a minion to do for you. You should then put your feet up and wait for this to bubble away, filling your home with the smell of the simplest Indian-African dish there ever was.

Dad’s 20-Minute Channa Bateta (Kenyan Chickpeas and Potatoes in Coconut Broth)

Serves 4

Ingredients
1kg baby new potatoes, steamed and peeled
2 x 400g tins chickpeas (drained weight 480g in total)
8-10 curry leaves
400ml full-fat coconut milk
800ml hot water
2 tsp turmeric
Juice of 1 lemon
2 chillies, chopped (adjust to your taste)
1/2 raw green mango, peeled and grated
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

For the Channa Bateta toppings bar
1 red onion, finely diced
2 tbsp chopped coriander
4 packs of salted crisps/potato chips, crushed (you could also use cassava chips)
4 tbsp Kenyan Chevdo and/or Jinni Sev (trail mix), optional – you can buy these in many Asian supermarkets
Green chutney, to taste (recipe below)
Tamarind chutney, optional
Daal vada, optional
Red chilli powder, optional

For the Raw Mango and Coconut Chutney
1/2 raw green mango, grated
1 whole fresh coconut, shelled, peeled and grated (the coconut water is the chef’s treat)
100g fresh coriander
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
240ml cold water

Method

1. Pour the coconut milk and water into a large pan. Add the curry leaves, chopped chilli, turmeric, green mango, salt and sugar. Bring to the boil.

2. Add in the chickpeas and potatoes, along with the lemon juice.

3. Simmer on a medium/low heat for 15 minutes with the lid on.

4. Ladle into a bowl and customise with all your favourite toppings. Serve immediately.

5. To make the Raw Mango and Coconut Chutney: Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until you have a semi-coarse, bright green chutney.

Love Sanjana

The post 20-Minute Channa Bateta (Kenyan Chickpeas and Potatoes in Coconut Broth) appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

I’ve always strived to be a great cook like my grandfathers. My parents tell me their Gujarati and East African classics like Mombasa-Style Daal Kachori, Jalebi Paratha, gathia were inspiring. Their tips and tricks are recalled in the conversations of our extended family with a joy that I cannot even describe. I wish they’d have been here long enough for me to watch them at work.

Someone who had the pleasure of spending many hours in the kitchen with my Bapuji (paternal grandfather) was my wonderful aunt in Mombasa, Kenya. She’s an incredibly-talented cook with an edible garden I could only dream of. Packed with mangoes, coconuts, bananas, tree tomatoes and herbs, she’s an expert at cooking everything from Gujarati classics, to East African staples. When I visited their family home last year, I was treated to it all and my word was it dreamy.

One of the dishes she cooked up was this Mombasa Kachri Bateta – a light potato stew with sour green mangoes, topped with coconut fresh from the garden and fried cassava crisps. The coconut is a kind of dry chutney rammed with flavour from grated green mango, chilli, turmeric, salt and sugar. That’s it. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – the simplicity with which East African food is cooked blows my mind and my taste buds. It’s unbelievable how a few simple ingredients put together in a clever way makes everything Taste. So. Damn. Good.

Grated raw green mango is EVERYTHING to this dish. It adds a gentle, fruity sourness lemons just can’t deliver. If you can’t get raw green mango, try adding lime but I seriously would encourage you to hunt the mangoes down. Ensure they’re super hard and very green and keep the skin on when you grate it, because life’s too short.

The toppers for Kachri Bateta are endless – from fried cassava or potato crisps, to thick gathia, jinni sev, fresh coriander, sliced chillies and of course, the dry mango chutney. Gathia and jinni sev are fried chickpea flour nibbles – think Bombay Mix but better. You can buy them in most big supermarkets.

This dish is so easy and a delicious taste of Mombasa. The only difficult part is waiting for the potatoes to cook in the sour, spicy mango and tomato broth.

Mombasa Kachri Bateta
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the potato stew:
750g potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp crushed garlic
75g raw mango, grated
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
2 tsp salt
½ tsp red chilli powder
1.5L water

For the coconut chutney:
100g fresh coconut, grated
100g raw green mango, grated
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp turmeric
1 small chilli, chopped

To serve:
Cassava crisps or potato crisps
Gathia or jinni sev
Chopped coriander
Sliced chillies

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for a minute or two, stirring all the time.

2. Next, add the mango, potatoes, salt, chilli powder and water. Allow to cook on a medium heat for around 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked and the water has reduced by half. The starch in the potatoes will thicken it perfectly.

3. To make the chutney, mix all the ingredients together. Cover and keep in the fridge. This is best served cold on top of the stew.

4. Serve the stew in bowls, topped with the coconut chutney, crisps, gathia, sev, coriander and chillies.

Love Sanjana

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