Adventure with Food

Matoke, that famous Ugandan meal, is a delight to any visitor to that country east of the African continent. Yes it was my delight too, years ago when I visited Uganda. No, it wasn’t on a tourist safari visit; it was a missionary exchange programme that lasted three months. I was then studying for the missionary priesthood. But one thing that glued to my recollection during the sojourn wasn’t only the hospitality and affability of neither my Ugandan hosts, nor the warmth and fraternity of the Christian community, nor the picturesque ambiance of the physical environment, but... the meal! Well, not just any meal you see...

We have lots of plantains in Nigeria where I come from. There are different ways it is prepared and eaten but what I saw in Uganda was unique and different. Here we either roost it on open fire, fry in cooking oil, or steam in water. I dare say this cuisine certainly does not rank top on our list of favourite national dishes.

One knack I put in full use during the few trips I’ve had abroad is to swing my taste buds into full throttle with the allure of delicacies and cuisines, especially famous ones and matoke fell prey to these tasty buds of mine while in Jinja. Such a lovely place! Jinja lies in the south east of Uganda, 54 miles north east of the capital, Kampala. It is located on the shores of Lake Victoria, near to the source of the White Nile River.

I had heard many stories of matoke and began to ‘agitate’ for a go soon after arrival much to the chagrin of my Nigerian fellow missionaries who I am sure would have preferred the ‘Nigerian alternative’, pounded yam with egusi (melon) soup and bush meat. Finally, after a long wait of a whole day, matoke was prepared and served. Boy, what a meal it was! The feeling is real, the taste a deal. My taste buds were not disappointed.

All these events happened in 1998 but my memory is still very sharp. Matoke is consists of steamed green plantain. It is cooked and served at every meal. It is the staple of Ugandan diet (in combination with chicken, goat, fish and beef) Most of the banana plantations in Uganda are matoke.

For the while I stayed there, I keenly watched the preparation process. The meal is prepared from an allure of medium-sized green fruits, which look like bananas but are not. They are peeled, wrapped in the plant's leaves and set in a cooking pot on the stalks which have been removed from the leaves. The pot is then placed on a charcoal fire and the matoke is steamed for a couple of hours in water placed in the bottom of the cooking pot. While uncooked, the matoke is white and fairly hard. Cooking turns it soft and yellow. The matoke is then mashed while still wrapped in the leaves and often served on a fresh leaf. It is then eaten with a sauce made of vegetables, groundnut or meat.

One of my fellow confreres (brothers) a Tanzanian from Kilimanjaro explained that in his place matoke is cooked with meat or smoked catfish and beans or groundnuts. This method he said eliminates the need for making a separate sauce. In this recipe matoke is not mashed.