In Luhya cuisine, animal fat tallow (isiachi in Isukha dialect of Luhya) was used to cook delicacies such as traditional vegetables — lisebebe cooked with inderema, lisebebe cooked with miroo, lisutsa, lisutsa with libokoyi or tsimboka; and wild mushrooms (bwoba). Unlike other recipes that you may come across, the traditional animal fat tallow (isiachi) of … Read more
In Shona language of South Africa, munyu is salt. Among the Luhya of western Kenya, munyu or munyu musherekha is a traditional lye/salt made from burning and then leeching the ash of certain dry plant matter. Likhubi in Luhya (scientific name Vigna unguiculataa; common name cowpea in English and kunde in Swahili) is a traditional … Read more
Among the Luhya the Maragoli – the tea growing tribe – are known to not only to love the brew so dearly so, but as expected, are naturally connoisseurs of Western Kenya tea. A typical Mulogoli tribesman knows his tea, and knows it well. Thus there’s a corner of Maragoli language dedicated to all things … Read more
In this recipe of a medley of Luhya traditional vegetables, you’ll see: Lisebebe (pumpkin leaves -Cucurbita sp.), inderema (Indian spinach – Basella alba), miroo (sunnhemp – Crotalaria brevidens), mrenda (jute plant – Corchorus olitorius), tsimboga or tsimboka or livogoi (Amaranthus species). Watch Video
The one danger when making traditional Greek yoghurt at home is a leaking gourd. A leaky gourd not only means avoidable loss of liquid pearl – deliciously sour traditional Greek gourd or Maziwa Mala as we Kenyans love to call it – but also leads to poor quality product. Thankfully, this one trick for a … Read more
In Maragoli language, bananas (the fruit or food) is known as ligomia. Magomia is what we call the banana plantation itself. In our culture, a seasoned eye can look at the stem, leaves or poise of magomia and come to a conclusion to which ligomia it will bear. Ligomia can be: mulalu (good only for … Read more
Lifwafwa/sikayangaya/linyoronyoro/linyolonyolo is an ever green plant that is today considered more of a weed than an easy to vegetable that our grandfathers loved to hate. It grows in fertile soils and spreads fast when the land is tilled. I remember growing up mum would insist that when tilling land, to be particular with lifwafwa. She … Read more
When making traditional Luhya beer, one needs the best quality traditional yeast, known as limela (pl. kamamela) in Bukusu language, they can find. This traditional yeast can be made from either sorghum or millet depending on availability, preference and financial ability. How to make the traditional Luhya yeast limela (pl. kamamela) The business of kamamela … Read more
How to make kamakhobolio – groundnut shell- munyu musherekha. This type of munyu imparts in meat, poultry and fish dishes an unmistakable rich taste and aroma similar to that of smoked or barbecued foods. Kamakhobolio or kamola in Bukusu language simply means groundnut shell. Groundnut munyu is best for preparing meat, poultry and fish as … Read more
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 … Read more
