Breakfast in Arusha

Instead of slogging through stale corn flakes for breakfast (or ruining your enzymes by unintentionally swallowing nasty fruit seeds and microscopic burrowing insects), go get the deep dryer hot before your coffee gets cold ... and try a samosa instead.

Samosas are small fried pastries of Indian origin, filled with seasoned vegetables or meat. My missionary friends Vernon and his wife Mary introduced them to me during my stay in Tanzania. A beef samosa'll kick a sausage biscuit right off the plate, and that's saying a lot.

Samosa

Ingredients: egg roll cases, cut into two squares (or use spring roll wrappers)
1 lb. Ground beef browned with one half pound chopped onion
1 tsp. Tumeric and 1tsp. Curry powder
1 tsp. Salt and 1/4 tsp. Red pepper

Fold each square into a triangle, add about one teaspoon meat mixture, and seal edges with water (or)
Fold each square into an ice cream cone shape, turn up bottom and seal with water, add about one teaspoon of meat mixture, fold over top and seal using water.

Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown–this does not take long!

To store: freeze and thaw in oven 10 minutes at 350 degrees. This helps prevent soggy samosa! Makes about 30 ... which you'll probably gobble in two sittings! :-)

Hope Jimmy Dean puts these in the dairy case soon ... I'd eat 'em by the bagful.

Chai – African Tea (hot, refreshing & goes great with samoosas!)

Boil 4 cups water, 2-4 tsp. of black tea leaves, 1 tsp. Cardamon, 3-4 cinnamon sticks, 1/4 to ½ cup of sugar and let simmer. Add 3-4 cups of milk and let it heat again.

[recipes taken from http://www.elca.org/countrypackets/tanzania/recipe.html]


Here's one for lunch tomorrow ...

Tanzanian Soup

Brown in 2T oil:
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C. coconut

Add 2.5 lb. beef, cut into chunks; brown.

Add:
1 T. tomato paste
1 - 2 fresh tomatoes, coarsley chopped
juice of 1/2 large lime
2 tsp. salt

Cover with water and simmer for 2 to 3 hours.

[recipe from: http://classes.seattleu.edu/masters_in_teaching/teed521/professor/nayama.html}