Traditional Ugandan Food in Pictures

Matooke, a Ugandan staple, is a green cooking banana, prepared in banana leaves and steamed, mashed, steamed again to produce a delicious end product which is eaten with any kind of stew.  Some of the stews are beef stew, chicken stew, groundnut/peanut stew, spinach, fish etc.  You cannot appreciate matooke on its own because it can be bland.   It has to be eaten with one of mentioned sauces.

Below is the end product served with different side dishes:  peas, beef stew, plain peanut sauce.  Peanut sauce mixed with smoked bamboo, spinach, smoked fish etc. It makes a base for many side dishes that can be eaten with sweet potatoes, millet, pumpkins, cassava or yams. Beans which can be found in beautiful varieties  make good sauces appear on a daily menu because are more affordable.

Grilling as shown in the picture below is very popular in Uganda.  Cassava, sweet potatoes and plantain are good for informal eating.  However for proper meals and dining, they are steamed and served in a formal way.

Ugandan Asians have had a big influence on the food.  Chapati, made out flour into a pancake is eaten with beef, chicken, fish or vegetable currries.  There is also rice which is either made into a  pillau or service steamed.  My mother used to add some milk and butter to give it a delicious flavour.

In the picture below, you can see rice, samosa, pumpkin, beans, egg plant, matooke and egg plant.

A young man makes chapati in the above picture.

Sweet potatoes mashed with beans ( in the picture below) is popular in Bugisu, keeps and enjoyed by Boarding School children.  It is known as "bufuke".

Below is millet bread served with an okra-leaf vegetable. Most popular in the north and east, and west of Uganda.

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