Around the World in Foodventures (Tanzania: UGALI NA MAHARAGE YA NAZI)

Ugali is a corn flour (or sorghum or millet or cassava flour) porridge, much like polenta, that is used both as a meal filler and as a means of transporting food to your mouth. It's sort of Tanzania’s version of a tortilla, or naan, or injera. To eat it -- you pull off a small ball of the mush with your fingers, form an indentation with your thumb, and use it to scoop up accompanying stews and other dishes. Or you can form a larger ball, place it in your bowl, and spoon stew around it.

The Maharage that goes along with it here is a simple (but delicious!) stew of onions, carrots, tomatoes, beans, and coconut milk.

There are lots of recipes available, but I used this one: http://blog.ingredientmatcher.com/recipe-the-national-dish-of-tanzania-ugali-na-maharage-ya-nazi/

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as we'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)