Mozambican Meal

The other day some ladies came over to our house to work with me to prepare a Mozambican dinner in honor of a new family that had arrived. It was a lot of fun to work with them (and a little bit of a stretch for me to turn over my kitchen to prepare food in the traditional way) and a really neat time of getting to know these ladies better.

On the menu of this very Mozambican meal was: grilled chicken seasoned in salt and garlic; oven-roasted fish with garlic, chicken bullion and lemon; a rice salad; "arroz novo com coco" (freshly harvested and pounded rice cooked in coconut milk); a lettuce salad and cabbage salad; "xima" (traditional African staple made from cooked white cornmeal); and "matapa" (made from greens, pounded peanuts, and coconut milk).

This meal took about 5 hours to prepare with the three of us working--and much of it had already been done up ahead (such as pounding the peanuts and rice). I had decided in advance to do my best to "let go" of my Western ideas about cooking and cleaning (and yes, even food poisoning) so that I could really learn from these ladies and enjoy our time together. I got down on the floor with them to grate the coconut, cut up the vegetables, and pound the garlic. I looked the other way when the same knife and board that were used to cut up the chicken were again used to make the salad (without being washed with soap or bleach!). And, well, some of the other things are best left unmentioned... The point is: the meal was delicious. No one got sick. And more importantly I had a really neat time growing in friendhip with these women and learning from them.

Dona Vera, recently widowed and without any children of her own, came over early to get a start on the meat. She was incredibly gracious with my own little ones running around and constantly pulling me away from the preparations.

Paula, a girl my own age, came over a bit later since she had to prepare an entire meal up ahead of time for her five children that she left at home. I asked her to teach me how to grate the coconut in the traditional Mozambican manner since we had to use three for the meal.

Cohen and Christian hung out drinking coconut water and snitching pieces of coconut for snack as they watched their Mommy learn a new skill. As for Paula--she laughed most of the time. And finally shook her head and took back the job saying that we would be here forever if she didn't finish up. Just for good measure, she mentioned out loud that her own (8 year old) daughter already knew how to grate a coconut.

I'm thinking Cohen and Christian like it better when I prepare food on the ground anyway. This way they don't have to hear my constant reminders to get their feet off the counter and stop messing.