Recipes.

A few weeks ago, I taught my P7 class about Baking. It's a topic on the National Syllabus for this class, but a concept that was completely foreign to almost all of them. When I asked who had ever seen a gas cooker with oven, two hands went up; Bwanika and Ndiwalana used to live in Kampala. Baked goods (bread, cakes, biscuits) are sold in our village, but they are brought in on from Masaka. The only thing close to an oven I have seen in Bukoto (and which I used to explain for my class) are the huge stacks of bricks which are fired to dry them. Thrice, I have "baked" crumbly chocolate-peanut butter cake using our charcoal stove as a makeshift dutch oven. Between their attempts to write a story about pictures depicting a girl baking a cake and my bringing bread to facilitate better learning, we had a lot of fun with this unit.
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One of the creative writing assignments I gave my class involved writing recipes. Since they have no idea what ingredients or procedure to use for baking, and since "food" (i.e. carbohydrates) generally involves only fire and water, I instructed them to write instructions for preparing their favourite sauces. Specifically, they had to list the ingredients and write a procedure. Here are some of my favourites...
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Namagala Nakato Oliver.
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My favourite sauce is fish.
How to prepare fish.
Move the unwanted parts from a fish.
Wash it propery.
I start cooking.
Put cooking oil in the saucepan.
add onions.
add tomatoes.
add baking powder.
add salt.
Put a fish into.
add little water.
Cook it for five minutes.
then taste.
Prepare your plate.
add start eatting.
That is how to prepare a fish.
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[I think she confused "baking powder" with "curry powder".]
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Sseggane John.
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I get 2 killogrames of soya beans.
I pick beans and I cooked them.
After I get tomatoes and onions.
I cut them into smaller pieces.
I get cooking oil I put it in the sorce pan
and I take it on the fire after i mix
tomatoes, onion and cooking oil.
I fry them after I put some water and
I cook them.
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Nsamba Emmanuel.
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Pork meat.
1. First get tomatoes, onions and cut them into smaller pieces.
2. Then get cooking oil and put it in the sauce pan.
3. Put the cooking oil on fire.
4. Then mix cooking oil with tomatoes, onions and carry powder and salt.
5. Then put in the pork.
6. And in some water.
7. Cook it for 10 or 15 minutes.
8. Then remove it on fire and taste the sauce.
9. After that start to eat.
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Natugga Justine.
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My favourite source is ground nuts.
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I first grine the ground nuts.
I put them in the saucepan.
I put there salt
I mix there tomatoes
Then I put in water.
And I cook.
I taste it
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Ingredients:
salt
tomatoes
water
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Bwanika Darausi.
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Fish
salt tomatoes carry powder
water onions cooking oil
fish--Is cut into equal parts
Cooking oil--put into a saucepan
tomatoes--cut them and mix in cooking oil.
cut onions, carry powder, water, salt and mix them into the fish and cook it and it get ready. then you taste the solution.
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[This young man who refers to his sauce as a "solution" wants to become a doctor... fitting, I think.]
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Nambi Jacent.
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My favourite sauce is meat.
Ingredients
-salt
-water
-curry powder
-tomatoes
-onions
-cooking oil
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meat--means when you have slaughtered any animal.
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How to prepare meat.
-You cut the meat into pieces.
-next you cut the tomatoes.
-You prepare onions.
-You prepare cooking oil in the saucepan.
-You take on fire.
-You mix.
-You prepare cooking oil.
-You put curry powder.
-You put salt.
-You put onions.
-You put water.
-You cook.
-You taste.
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[I didn't actually say that they had to define any of the terms they used...]
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Nabayombya Hudah.
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My favourite sauce is beans.
I fist prepare the source pan.
I put in cooking oil.
I put in onions.
I put in Tomatoes.
I put in salt.
I put in water.
Then it get ready.
And I taste it.
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Ingredients.
-Salt.
-Water.
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Kitamilike Matia.
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How to prepare beef.
Ingredients.
onions.
cooking oil.
tomatoes.
salt.
curry powder.
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Procedure.
First wash the meat.
Put it in a clean container.
Get a clean saucepan and put it on a charcoal stove until it gets dry or hot.
and cut tomatoes with onions.
Put cooking oil.
add onions.
Then add tomatoes.
Put their meat.
add salt and curry powder.
Then mixture and add some water.
When it is ready we first taste.
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Nankya Josephine.
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beans.
First pick the dust.
I cut onions anad tomatoes.
I put in oil in the souce pan
I fly.
then I put in water. and salt.
I cook.
When it was ready I remove it
then I taste on.
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[In case you weren't aware, "fly" and "fry" are troublesome homonyms for people whose native tongue is Luganda.]
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Feel free to try these recipes at home. Though I suppose some of you will prefer to use your gas or electric stoves rather than the cooking fires or charcoal stoves presupposed above. Such a change will likely affect cooking time, global warming, and taste.