Tanzanian cuisine is a vibrant reflection of the country's diverse cultural influences, blending African, Indian, Arab, and European elements into a tantalizing mix of spicy, sweet, and savory dishes. Tanzanians love to gather at open bars or restaurants after work to eat, making it a part of everyday life.
My blog readers and friends I’ve cooked for ask me why our recipes are so reminiscent of Indian and Arab cuisine. Let me take you back in history. Indians and Persians brought spices, tea, and many other influences; these traders intermarried with locals and made Tanzania their second home. That could be one reason Tanzanians love chai ya viungo (spiced tea). To make chai ya viungo, boil water with lots of milk and cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger. (I like to add black pepper.) In the late 17th century, Oman made Zanzibar its capital and home to its sultan. Mainland Tanzania, however, was colonized by the Portuguese, then by the Germans from 1880. British culture never really stuck with Tanzanians, who were already accustomed to the Arab and Indian way of life.
The British didn’t intermarry with locals, although they did try to influence Tanzanians’ lifestyle. For example, schoolgirls were taught to bake cakes and cookies and how to use a fork and knife. Not all our dishes have foreign influences, however. We also have a food that is a staple of the Bantu, the main group of indigenous Tanzanians. All Bantu tribes eat one thing in common: ugali.
Let's dive into the heart of Tanzanian cooking with some essential recipes and insights.
Staple Foods and Common Ingredients
Garlic, onions, and tomatoes are a must in everyday cooking because we love our stews. We also have local vegetables like mchicha (amaranth), matembere (potato leaves), majani ya kunde (bean leaves), kisamvu (cassava leaves), majani ya maboga (pumpkin leaves), and the list goes on. I love cassava leaves.Swahili cooking uses lots of spices. The most common are black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, cloves, and cardamom. We use cardamom in tea, porridge, rice, ice cream, cakes, vegetables, and almost anything you eat. It’s flavorful and aromatic. Add a few cardamom pods or seeds to your boiling water for tea.
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Ugali
Ugali, a mixture of maize flour and water, is found everywhere in Tanzania. To prepare ugali, boil water, then slowly add a little bit of fine maize flour to make a thin porridge. Stir with a wooden spoon until thick. People from the northern part of Tanzania prefer matoke, or green bananas steamed and mashed. Other staples eaten all around the country are boiled cassava, sweet potatoes, taro, and, of course, meat and fish.
As is the case with seemingly most African nations (so far, at least), the national dish of Tanzania is ugali (cornmeal). And, as ever, the problem with this is that it’s a side dish, so we needed to find an alternative.
Recipe: Ugali
- In a pot, warm the water on high heat for about 3 minutes (do not boil).
- Add half of the cornmeal and stir it in with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir until it thickens and bubbles.
- Once you’ve reached this consistency, cover the pot and leave it to cook for 4 minutes on medium heat.
- Take the pot off the heat and add the rest of the cornmeal. Stir it in with the wooden spoon. As you mix in the rest of the cornmeal it will become harder, almost like play dough. Continue to mould it until all the flour is mixed in, and mash all the lumps.
- Spread it flat at the bottom of the pot as much as possible, cover, and put back on the fire on medium heat.
- After 4 minutes, open the pot and turn the mixture onto the other side. Cover and put back on the heat. Repeat this step twice.
We’ve had various versions of cornmeal porridge but enjoyed the different textures of this variety: flipping it over in the pot resulted in some crispy edges that tasted like popcorn (and were particularly enjoyed by Baby Mash).
Recipe: Maharage (Beans in Coconut Milk)
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- In a pan, heat the oil over medium heat, add the onion and stir.
- When the onions begin to brown, add the tomatoes. Stir and mash them in.
- Once the tomatoes soften, add the carrots, stir and let them cook for 2 minutes, then add the beans and salt to taste, and stir.
- Add the coconut milk and stir.
Pilau
It is very hard to miss pilau in any Tanzanian celebration, and Tanzanian pilau has more spices than the Indian version. To prepare pilau, saute onions, then add garlic, ginger, and pilau masala, which is a mix of cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir for a while, then add rice. You can fancy up your pilau with chicken or any other meat. Use bouillon or broth instead of water. You can also add seafood and vegetables. People around the coastal region add cashew nuts and all sorts of other things. It all depends on the cook.
By cooking the rice in the spicy broth, all the flavors get absorbed in the grains. The result is a slightly sweet and fragrant rice dish that goes well with savory stews and curries.
How To Make Swahili Pilau | Swahili Pilau Recipe | Kenyan Pilau | Tali's Kitchen
Nyama Choma
Nyama choma is the Swahili translation for “roasted meat”. This dish is prepared by marinating meat (usually goat or beef) with spices before grilling it over an open flame. Enjoying nyama choma is often a social experience accompanied by a cold beer in an outdoor setting.
This is meat that you order by the kilogram and that they roast right there in the restaurant. Never go to eat nyama choma when you are in a hurry, because the minimum time before the meat can be ready is 40 minutes. You are allowed to stay and watch, or you may enjoy a beer while waiting at your table. The marinade for nyama choma is very light-usually just lime, garlic, and salt. The goal is to make the meat taste natural. Another type of nyama choma you must try is kitimoto-roasted pork on charcoal. Some restaurants saute with onions, tomatoes, lots of garlic, and hot peppers after roasting. Do not order this from a fancy restaurant. Go where the locals go. With the addition of condiments and maybe roasted bananas, this is dinner for many Tanzanians. I am one of those people who don’t like pork but still eat kitimoto.
Mishkaki
Made with marinated and grilled meat (usually beef or chicken), mishkaki are traditional Tanzanian skewers. First the meat is cubed, then marinated in a mix of spices before being threaded onto skewers and grilled.
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Digging deeper into Tanzania’s epicurean traditions revealed that this is very much a country of two culinary halves: the mainland half, which we might consider to be more ‘traditional’ African cuisine (hence the ugali), and the island half (Zanzibar and Mafia, the former of which lends an Indian/Arabic influence to the cooking style). We were therefore faced with choices ranging from kidney beans cooked in coconut milk, to salmon curry, to barbecued meat skewers (mishkaki). In the end we opted for the latter, served alongside a traditional salad, kachumbari.
Depending on which recipe you look at, mishkaki can be made with either beef, goat, fish or chicken, and some recipes also added green papaya to the marinade to further tenderise the meat, while kachumbari can have all sorts of things added to it (avocado, cucumber, chilli, honey, lemon…). We went for beef for the mishkaki because it’s our preferred meat out of the given options, and a very simple version of the kachumbari because we figured that couldn’t be straying too far from the traditional way.
Recipe: Mishkaki
- Put the dry spices, garlic, ginger, vinegar, oil and water in a large bowl and whisk until all ingredients are mixed.
- Stir in the fresh coriander.
- Put the beef in a large tray or bowl, pour over the marinade mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Cover in as airtight a way as possible and marinate for at least 24 hours in the fridge.
- When ready to cook, allow at least 1 hour for the meat to come up to room temperature out of the fridge.
- Skewer the meat (using either metal skewers or bamboo skewers that have been soaked for an hour).
Kachumbari
Kachumbari is Tanzanian salad. It accompanies almost everything we serve, and there are many different kinds. The common simple kachumbari is a mixture of thinly sliced cabbage, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, salt, hot peppers, and lemon or lime. Those are the base ingredients - you can add prawns, cucumber, carrots, and avocado.
The salad is then dressed with lemon juice, salt, and sometimes cilantro.
Recipe: Kachumbari
- Cut the onion in half, then slice each half into thin slices.
- Add some lime juice, a pinch of salt and a little water to the onions and let it sit for about 5 minutes (this gets out the intense rawness of the onions).
- Drain the onions and release the excess water.
- Toss tomatoes, onions, chili and cilantro in a large serving bowl.
- Mix the lemon juice and olive oil together and toss through the salad.
- Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.
Zanzibar Mix
Zanzibar mix is a mouthwatering soup and my favorite dish. It started as street food but is now served in some local restaurants, too. We saute onions and garlic, then add salt, turmeric (or food coloring and saffron), lemon juice, and hot peppers. Stir for a while, then add a little water. Add about a tablespoon of wheat flour to thicken. Some people add tamarind paste or grated mango just before removing from the heat.
Mchemsho
While in Tanzania, I prefer to have mchemsho for breakfast. It’s a light soup made with boiled chicken, fish, or goat intestines, which are then mixed with carrots, green bananas, hot peppers, black pepper, garlic, onions, potatoes, and lime and possibly cilantro or other herbs. We eat the soup with bread or chapati. Many bachelors will visit a local restaurant before work to have mchemsho for breakfast.
Other Popular Dishes
Other recipes you may want to try that are favorites among locals are vitumbua, maandazi, and chapati.
- Vitumbua: is a mix of rice flour, sugar, coconut milk or water, yeast, and cardamom. Make it into a thin batter. Leave it at room temperature overnight, and cook the next day using a pancake puff pan. Use lots of oil. These sweet, round rice cakes are prepared using rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, and a touch of cardamom. Cooked in a special round mold, the result is a fluffy cake with a slightly crispy exterior.
- Maandazi: are like doughnuts but not as oily, and unlike doughnuts you don’t feel sick after eating too many. The recipe is the same as that for making regular bread, plus lots of sugar and sometimes cardamom powder and coconut milk. Then the dough is cut into any desired shape and deep-fried. Mandazi are deep-fried doughnuts prepared using flour, sugar, coconut milk, and spices like cardamom. The dough squares are fried until golden brown and then dusted with powdered sugar.
- Chapati: is flatbread. It’s made from a simple mix of wheat flour, water, salt, and oil.
- Mchuzi wa samaki: a local fish stew. With its proximity to the Indian Ocean, food in Tanzania is brimming with fresh seafood, and this dish is especially popular in coastal regions. Mchuzi wa samaki is typically accompanied by rice or ugali.
- Matoke: To make this dish, green bananas are cooked until tender, then mashed into a thick stew. Next, the stew is flavored with coconut milk and spices until it reaches a soup-like consistency.
Safari Cuisine: A Taste of Tanzania in the Wild
People don’t typically go on an African safari for the food; but once they are in the National Geographic setting of their memories, the details do come into focus. Between game drives and walks to see everything from bat-eared foxes to zebras there is the camp they’ve chosen, and there is the food.
What you will encounter on your plate on an African safari is not unlike what you might get at home. The chefs are well-trained and can handle your gluten intolerance or peanut allergy; however, for me food is the essence of place. I don’t think most people in East and Southern Africa are eating prosciutto and brie sandwiches, or a medium-rare filet with a mushroom cream sauce. When I travel I want to know what the day-to-day cuisine is so I can truly gain a sense of where I am.
On a recent visit to Tanzania, my safari was based at a mobile camp called Njozi (meaning ‘dream’ in Swahili) in a protected area on the outskirts of the Serengeti. Set amid a beautiful acacia forest with wildlife casually passing by outside our tents, it was idyllic to say the least. While much of the delicious fare emerging from their kitchen was familiar, they shook things up a bit to keep it interesting. A spicy-sour bean and vegetable salad for breakfast was addictive, as was the ever-present kachumbari, a spicy tomato and onion salad/relish served alongside most meals.
Most notable was ‘Swahili Night,’ an evening of local dishes proudly cooked and served by the camp’s enthusiastic chefs. The chefs used Swahili Night to share and celebrate local dishes, like ugali, a staple throughout much of Africa that goes by many names (including mealies in South Africa, nshima in Zambia, sadza in Zimbabwe and pap in Namibia). Being on holiday, we were spoiled with nyama choma (grilled meat) to go with our ugali. We also had the option of eating with our hands in the traditional manner or with cutlery. Most opted for the latter, but the former is much more fun. You just take a small ball of ugali, indent a space with your thumb, then scoop up the nyama choma (or sauce) and pop the whole thing into your mouth.
The chefs were excited to talk about the recipes and preparation. Over the hot fire of the barbecue, they emphasized how Indian spices have influenced and inspired traditional Tanzanian dishes as a result of the long trading relationship between India and East Africa via the ‘spice island’ of Zanzibar.
Sukuma Wiki
Sukuma wiki means “stretch the week” in Swahili and is a very common dish in East Africa. Easy, nutritious and delicious, it is a way of “stretching” out kitchen resources. Sukuma wiki is typically served with ugali and sometimes also roasted meat or fish.
Recipe: Sukuma Wiki
- Heat the oil over medium-high in a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
- Add the onion and sauté until translucent.
- Add the greens in batches, sautéing each addition until wilted.
- Add the tomatoes, water or stock, salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer gently until tender (20 to 30 minutes).
- Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
If you’re staying somewhere that you’re also enjoying most of your meals and they’re not serving local cuisine - ask. Most people (myself included) are proud to share and show off their culture’s favorite or famous foods. And when you bite into something they’ve carefully crafted, you will taste not only the food, but your surroundings and their history.
Table: Common Tanzanian Dishes and Their Descriptions
| Dish Name | Description | Main Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| Ugali | A staple porridge-like dish. | Maize flour and water |
| Nyama Choma | Roasted meat marinated with spices. | Goat or beef, spices |
| Pilau | Spiced rice dish. | Rice, spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves) |
| Mishkaki | Grilled meat skewers. | Beef or chicken, spices |
| Kachumbari | Fresh tomato and onion salad. | Tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lemon juice |
| Zanzibar Mix | Savory soup with a unique blend of flavors. | Onions, garlic, turmeric, lemon juice, hot peppers, wheat flour |
| Mchemsho | Light soup made with boiled meat and vegetables. | Chicken, fish, or goat intestines, carrots, green bananas, hot peppers, potatoes |
| Vitumbua | Sweet rice cakes. | Rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, cardamom |
| Maandazi | Deep-fried doughnuts. | Flour, sugar, coconut milk, spices |
| Chapati | Flatbread. | Wheat flour, water, salt, oil |
Tanzania is a country waiting to tantalize your taste buds. Whether you’re a meat-lover or a vegetarian, you’re sure to find a range of dishes and exciting flavors to suit your palate.
