Let them eat cake

Passport & Plate - Rolex

Uganda | Friday, February 27, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Chapatti
1 cup plain flour
Water
Teaspoon Salt
Extra flour
Omelette
Eggs
Cabbage
Carrot
Tomato
Chilli
Salt

Cooking oil for frying

 

How to prepare this recipe
Chapatti

Pour the water into a wide dish or bowl. Stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the flour.
Work into a dough with your hands or a spoon. Break the dough into small balls.
Sprinkle flour onto a board and knead each ball until it is smooth. Roll the dough ball out flat with a floured rolling pin until it is flat like a crepe and about the size of your frying pan.
Heat a good amount of cooking oil into a large frying pan on medium heat. Place the flat dough sheet into the oil. Spin it around with your hand so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Cook on one side for approximately two minutes until golden. Darker brown spots are normal. Turn and cook for approximately one minute on the other side.
Set aside on a paper towel (which will help soak up some excess oil).

Omelette

Finely grate the carrot and cabbage and finely chop the chilli.
Crack one egg into a coffee mug (plastic if you want to be authentically Ugandan) or a small bowl. Whisk with a fork.
Add a pinch of salt.
Add a small handful of carrot and cabbage and a pinch of chillies. Whisk with the fork.
Heat cooking oil in a frying pan on a low to medium heat and pour the egg mixture. Use the fork to spread the omelette to the approximate size of your chapatti. Slice pieces of tomato directly onto the omelette.
Cook for a few minutes on one side and flip to cook on the other.
When the egg is cooked, flip the omelette directly onto the waiting chapatti. Roll the omelette in the chapatti and wrap in paper.

 

The story behind this recipe
Uganda is not really known for its culinary delights. Fruit is not considered to be food and no meal is complete without a heavy carbohydrate – rice, potato, or matoke (mashed unripe banana).

A Rolex is the antidote. Essentially, it’s a fried omelette wrapped in a chapatti. But to me, it’s so much more than that. Everyday y that passed on the beautiful farm where I was volunteering bought me closer to Friday, a visit to the ‘metropolis’ of Jinja and my Rolex (Rolex = rolled eggs, get it?).

Maybe it's eating beans and rice for five days in a row that makes this simple street snack so tasty. The sight of Ugandan men rolling out dough on a dusty street corner, mixing eggs and deftly wrapping everything in pieces of newspaper makes me smile. The smell of frying cooking oil in the hot sun, mingling with the spicy sweet smell of fresh chillies and cool carrots makes my mouth water.
The first bite is hot, drizzling oil and salt. A dusting of flour on my fingertips. Another bite crunches into grated carrot and cabbage. Grilled tomatoes burst with flavour. Chopped fresh chillies add a surprise.

It was easy to see how the street stalls turned their fresh ingredients into the best omelette I’ve ever eaten but I had no idea about the chapatti. ‘Home’ on the farm, Rose came to my rescue. We stood together in the outdoor kitchen. Rose never measured a thing. She poured water and stirred in salt until she judged it was enough. We added the flour. Rose slapped at her nephew when he poured all the flour into the water, leaving nothing left to help roll it out. We laughed and tried to make do with rolling it out with cooking oil. I watched carefully as Rose heated oil in a pan over a small open fire. My turn and I was rewarded with a big grin and laughter from Rose.

I have strong memories of the food in Uganda. I tired of fried cassava, I adored the sweet Jackfruit, I despaired of more matoke and smiled on beans and rice. I looked forward to every Friday and a Rolex.