{"id":913,"date":"2017-10-23T08:06:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T08:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mulembenation.co.ke\/food\/2017\/10\/23\/prepare-seveve-pumpkin-leaves-the-traditional-luhya-way\/"},"modified":"2017-10-23T08:06:18","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T08:06:18","slug":"prepare-seveve-pumpkin-leaves-the-traditional-luhya-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mulembenation.co.ke\/food\/prepare-seveve-pumpkin-leaves-the-traditional-luhya-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Seveve – Pumpkin Leaves Vegetables: How To Prepare and Keep Them Fresh Longer -The Traditional Luhya Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The long mashujaa weekend and recent plastic bag ban conspired to land me one of those heart warming treats. Thanks to folks back in <\/strong>Ingo<\/strong><\/em> when my city dwelling family went visiting the land of Mulembe<\/a>. Nothing beats home made food. U<\/em><\/strong>busuma, seveve ,<\/strong> engokho <\/strong><\/a><\/em>or even<\/strong> chisindu <\/strong><\/em>cooked over <\/strong>amaica. <\/strong><\/em>The delicate flavor of smoke that cooking over an open fire infuses into food.  Did I say nothing? Well, nothing beats the rituals of the journey back to the city.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At both my parents (in laws and biological) the morning of the journey back is usually consumed in ‘shopping’. Filling the car boot with farm fresh food from their farms. The joy in their eyes as they pick traditional vegetables<\/a> – seveve, miroo<\/a>, zimboga<\/em>, you name it –\u00a0 from the farm. The smiles as they pack send away gift helps blunt the pangs of the heartbreak of the impending departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As this goes on, uneasy jokes fill the air. How will baba nani know you are from home if you don’t take this jogoo to him for slaughter? Do your children still call murere<\/em>, mboga ya makamasi? Does your kitchen have the necessary ingredients (read: munyu musherekha<\/a>) to transform your muduya<\/a>, seveve and the goodness of mum’s irungu<\/a> into real Luhya food? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Life, Forgotten Ways
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All in good faith. All meant to make the goodbyes less traumatic. This ritual during my last visit to mums almost got ruined. Right at the end when I realized that the plastic paper bag meant that I had insufficient places to carry my loot with me. Silly me. I had forgotten how grandma used to pack freshly picked vegetables for the 12 hour bus ride to the city when we were little, no plastic bags and all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a smile and another joke: “You are going to a grandma soon. They grow so fast.” Mum took the moment to pass on an age old tradition.
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Preparing Seveve – Pumpkin Leaves Vegetable
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In this video, we learn how seveve (pumpkin leaves) were traditionally prepared before cooking. Particularly how this loved vegetable was packaged so as to keep it farm fresh for longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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