In the unending search for munyu in the city, we did an A/B test, karai vs jiko, to burn dry plant matter into ashes for making munyu. This is what we found.
Munyu musherekha/ mukhelekha/ mukereka or simply munyu is a must have when making Luhya food. It is as important as soy sauce in Asian dishes, or black pepper in your modern kitchen. The problem is munyu hasn’t been commercialized (yet) as soy or black pepper. This is a pain point in city kitchens where conditions may not be ideal for making munyu.
As it is, if you want munyu, you have to make it yourself. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. First, it’s more fun that way. Secondly, making munyu allows one enjoy the full experience experimenting with flavors. This is because no two batches of munyu are ever the same; even if you khelekha (leech) from the same ash. Simply put, each munyu has its distinct personality, character and taste.
In truth, making and enjoying munyu is something of an art. In our experiments, we make do with what’s around us to make munyu. First we did the karai method as detailed in this video to make munyu from kamakhobolio (groundnut shells) on a karai.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2429XwYuVb4[/embedyt]Then we did the jiko method. Even though what we used slightly different dry plant matter in each of the experiments and it could be that the weather conditions were dissimilar (for example, in windy conditions the stuff is likely to burn faster), we did learn a few lessons that we believe could be helpful in navigating the troubles of finding munyu in the city.
What we learned hustling to make munyu in the city
The video shows results of our A/B test, karai vs jiko, to burn dry plant matter into ash for making munyu. The dry plant matter had been burning for a similar amount of time in the same conditions.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLbJfdEbwtc[/embedyt]Convenience of the jiko method
We found it that using a jiko was less of a hustle as once the jiko got lit, it all worked like a charm. Using a jiko was much more convenient right from the start, as often lighting the jiko is the hardest part. In addition, with the jiko, there’s no cleaning thereafter which is always a bonus. All you have to do is to place the dry plant material (maize cobs, groundnut shells, simsim plant material, plantain peels, bean stalks) as you would with charcoal in a jiko and set it alight as usual.
Where the karai method nicks it
While the jiko is better in most However, at the finish (collecting the ash) for obvious reasons, the karai method does it..