So Wait.. I Am Doing an Internship Right?

I thought it might be time to blog a bit about who I am actually working with...

Avid blog reader (AKA family and friends): “What Adrienne, no more food and shopping?”
Me: “Don't worry we're just adding a new topic to the mix not ditching the old ones. I promise I won't start taking myself too seriously”

What I've learnt in six weeks of working with Equality for Growth is to be truly in awe of the women we are working with. Women market vendors are some of the busiest people around. These women put in a solid 12 hours of serious work. They are go-getters who have managed to scrape together whatever capital they could find as start-up and are getting by despite low-levels of education, literacy and business knowledge.

When you talked to people here they are really surpised that this is our target group because they can't imagine mobilizing these women to try and fit anything extra into their day. Honestly, I'm shocked too. Any minute these women are away from their stalls is a minute that they may be loosing a customer or a sale which can mean the difference between a successful day and a day where they and their families go hungry.

And yet Equality for Growth has managed to slowly build a steady following of women who understand the benefits of taking to time participate in workshops and attend group meetings. It is not easy. These groups are new and there can be a lot of tension, disagreement and friction. On the other hand, there have also been a number of small but significant triumphs. So my new pledge is to try and share one story a week about the work being done here in and among the stories on life in Dar. So here is my first one:

This is Hadijah Mohamed. She is a widow and mother of five children who makes her daily living as food vendor. Food vending is one of the least profitable but most common businesses for women. On a daily basis she makes 10,000tshs to- 15,000tshs ($7-9) from which she sustains herself and family.

She joined the EfG group and has become the chairperson. She also is part of a savings and loans group run by EfG. After the group built their savings she was able to borrow from her fellow market vendors. With the loan, she bought a motorcycle famously known as “boda boda” as an additional income asset. She now uses it to run a local transportation business. 

Having additional assets also makes it easier for women to access other financial opportunities like micro-loans. From the small step of saving as a community, there are now more options for her in the future.

This Way to the Beach

We all need our places of refuge. In Dar, I take my refuge with white sand and clear blue water....

Getting There

Getting to our favourite beach requires taking a ferry across the bay and you never know who you might run into...

There are always these boats pulled up by the shore. We have no idea if they ever actually go anywhere

People literally race off the boat to get to the buses... we aren't sure why because there seems to be an endless supply.

After our bus ride we always have the option of pursuing the art and craft stands on our way to the beach resort

The path to the resorts is usually pretty quiet and there are tons of flowers all around

Though there are a few hazards along the way...

The Beach

As promised, white sand and clear blue water...

Picture postcard perfect!

And the water is beautiful and shallow for swimming

And there are always many people selling sarongs and scarves.

For reasons we don't fully understand there are also a lot Masai, some of who sell things and some just seem to be chilling out with people.

And once there were cows...

And if the beach gets dull, there is always the pool and the rain dance!

And then the sun goes down and its time to catch a cab ride home.

Global Solidarity Challenge - The End

My final words on the Solidarity Challenge is that it really was a challenge. That sounds like a bit of a funny thing to say but I think its important to acknowledge this. We did have some good times learning to cook from people and sharing food but it was really hard for a number of reasons.

The Planning
Each meal had to be planned. We had to think ahead on what we would eat next and hold back food for lunch the next day. There was a detailed budget on how much money we had to spend and what we could afford. Everything that you did involving food required extensive thought. My week became consumed with what we could eat when.



The Cooking
Everything had to be made from scratch. I like cooking but most of what we ate required a lot of prep time. There were no quick meals. We ended up eating a lot of raw vegetables at the end of the week because no one wanted to cook any more.


High Carb Diet
I found the whole diet could really turn my stomach. There was so much rice and potatoes and other types of starch. Even if I was hungry there were times I'd starting to eat and then I'd just want to put down my plate. I'm never been one to advocate for low carbs but after that week I may be taking a break from them.

The week also got me thinking about what an impact this sort of lifestyle had on people around us. We stopped eating out for the most part so the women who sell us breakfast and the place we eat lunch at suddenly had no business from us. We were just four but if you multiple how many people in the world can only eat what they grow or the few things they can buy or trade for that are still in raw form, the impact on business and growth is huge. No room for selling "value-added" products means a very small economy.

Last Solidarity Day Meal

Breakfast- Tshs 250

Toast and a banana.

Lunch- Tshs 650

Leftover beans on a piece of toast

Supper- Tshs 900

Peas with coconut and rice.

And the our celebratory meal the next morning! No more solidarity challenge!

Last of all I just want to say thank you to everyone who supported us by giving to the challenge or sending us encouraging messages. It was a great help to have that community around support me. In total we raised $1535 dollars for the challenge!

 I also want to give a big thanks to my partner @AliaK for documenting the challenge in Toronto. She is a big part of what makes this blog happen even when she isn't writing and I couldn't do any of it without her!

Solidarity Challenge: The Final Day - Toronto Edition by @AliaK_

Day 7 has come and gone and it was over before I knew it. Here's a very quick breakdown of day 7

breakfast:

• Egg - $0.22

Lunch:

• Rice - $0.22
• Yam - $0.11
• Mixed Vegetables - $0.15

Dinner:

• Rice - $0.22
• Yam - $0.11
• Mixed Vegetables - $0.15
  
  
  
  

  total for the day: $1.18 ($0.07 under budget!)

 First I would like to thank everybody who donated to the Global Solidarity Challenge. Our team collectively raised $1,535.00 and the total amount raised was $46,028. These funds will be helping VIDEA support human rights programming in Africa. Secondly I would like to thank the Long Distance Neighbour herself Adrienne, for introducing me to the idea of the global solidarity challenge and inviting me to do it along with her.

Post Challenge Thoughts

Variety - They say "variety is the spice of life", but I now know that this phrase should really be "variety is a luxury to those who can afford it". With having access to all the world's foods at my fingertips (for a cost) it was difficult knowing that realistically, food variety is something of a luxury. When living below the poverty line the important thing to worry about is how many calories can you get for your money, not how many days in a row you have to eat rice.

Calories = Energy - A calorie literally is a measure of energy. Eating far fewer calories than my body needed not only lead to me loosing weight very quickly (5 lbs total over 7 days), but also being very tired. By day 4 I found myself less able to concentrate, and wanting to sleep about 10 hours a day. Having to do any significant labour on this type of diet would entirely deplete any energy I had.

Food Security - Throughout the week all I was thinking about was food; what food I could have, couldn't have, really wanted to have etc. It raised my awareness about what it must be like to constantly wonder what your next meal will be, how you will budget for it, or where it is coming from. I obviously was doing the challenge by choice, and not necessity and could never really know what it is like to wonder these things, but never the less those nagging thoughts were very real. For those who are interested you can check out The Global Food Security Index and see how your country fares.

Overall - Ultimately, it was challenging and incredibly rewarding. It wasn't anything like I expected it to be, but turned out to be a total success! Thanks for all the support and hopefully I'll see you again next year!

-Kaila

Global Solidarity Challenge Day 6 - Top 10 Things I'm looking Forward to

Here we are on day 6 and all everyone in my house seems to be able to talk about is what they wish they could eat. We went to the market at the end of the day and I had that giddy feeling that occurs when you are really hungry at the supermarket and you want to buy everything (though some what limited by the fact there is only so much you can indulge in at a fresh food market). We picked up a number of things to eat starting on Sunday and here is what I'm most excited about:

1. Pineapple 
2. Peanut Butter 
3. Pasta 
4. Other Vegetables like broccoli, beets, and also fresh herbs!
5. Having more than 1 egg
6. Eating the bacon that's in our fridge
7. Grilled cheese sandwich
8. Soda
9. Chocolate Bar 
10. Not eating another sweet potatoes for a long time

Breakdown of the Day-  Tshs 1850

Breakfast

I worked out in the morning so I splurged and bought 2 chapati for breakfast for an expensive Tshs 600. I didn't think I was actually that hungry until I started to eat and then I realized I was absolutely starving!

Lunch

We left work early to visit a partner organization so we just ate quickly when we got home. We had some bread and mango for lunch which also cost about Tshs 600.

Dinner

We picked up beans and vegetables at the market and made a sort of vegetable chill.

 

One more day and then we are done. At least tomorrow is Saturday and we can stay home and relax!

Solidarity Day 6 - Toronto Edition by @AliaK_

Now that the solidarity challenge is just about over, I'm really starting to get into the habit of things. I can tell approximately how much a portion will

cost me and while strolling through a store I can't help but portioning things out into $1.25 a day meal options. 

Unfortunately my Internet has gone down  buy thankfully I have the power of mobile phones. 

Day 6:

Breakfast - banana $0.14

Lunch - 

• Rice ($0.11)
• Lentils ($0.08)
• Garlic ($0.01)
• Zucchini ($0.15)
• Yam ($0.11)

Dinner - the same as lunch 

In order to have yams and zucchini and lentils in one meal I needed to cut my rice, lentil and zucchini portions in half. Despite having less food I was completely full for the day! Only one day to go! 

Global Solidarity Challenge Day 5 - And Its Ramadan

We've been living on a $1.25 a day but our house is in a Muslim neighbourhood and most of the people there aren't eating at all during the day. Though its not entirely the same, I do feel a sort of camaraderie with them when I come home at 5:30 pm and I know they must be at least as starving as I am.

For the last couple nights, we were invited by the group of guards, cleaners and their friends who seem to congregate around our front gate at all hours of the day to join them in breaking their fast (or Kufuturu in Swahili). We have relied on these men to help us navigate the neighbourhood, get taxis and they were some of our first friends in the neighbourhood despite the fact they only speak Swahili. It was really special to be able to sit down and share a meal with them.

This meal usually involves rice, some pasta in a tomato meat sauce, bananas cooked in coconut and other "soft" foods. I want the recipe for bananas and coconut, it was really good!!!

Breakdown of the Day

Breakfast- Tshs 465

That morning we finally ran out of our Mandazi, so I calculated we could actually buy some Vitombua (the rice buns) with our breakfast. Though both are fried, I found them quite heavy and sweet compared to my breakfast the rest of the week.

Lunch- Tshs 530

The night before we wanted to pick up beans for lunch but we were too late getting to the market and the seller was closed. So we made do with sweet potatoes with fresh veg for lunch. I would really like not to eat sweet potatoes for awhile when this is done.

Diner- Tshs 700

We made a sort of egg scramble with veg for diner (which also featured more sweet potatoes boo!). But was at least a switch up from eating rice. I'm feeling very protein deprived after all of this and it was a nice boost.

Only 2 days left. We are starting to plan what we are going to eat on Sunday. The first thing on the list is going to be a full English-style breakfast!

Solidarity Day 5 - Toronto Edition by @AliaK_

 A lot of people I have told about the challenge seem to have the same reaction, and it is something like this:

"You're going to do what?! What will you eat?!"

To which I respond that they probably aren't aware about how much they can really get for $1.25. And that got me thinking. While this week I am living on $1.25 a day for all of my food, it occurred to me how expensive things can really be. So I came up with a list of things that you could get for around the same price of an entire day's worth of food.

1. A medium coffee at Tim Hortons
2. 1/4 of a latte from Starbucks
3. A stamp to send a letter from Canada to USA
4. Dollar drink days at McDonalds
5. Bubbles at Dollarama
6. A chocolate bar
7. A song/app on iTunes
8. A donut
9. 1 can of tuna (on sale)
10. 1 box of Kraft Dinner

 If you can think of others please leave them in the comments below!

Like I said in my post from Day 4 today I was taken out to lunch for a work function. Looking at the menu I tried to pic something that was nutritious and not too expensive (to keep in spirit with the challenge). What really struck me was that the least expensive thing on the menu was a side of white rice for $2.00! That's still $0.75 over an entire day's budget.

Today is way under budget because my lunch was paid for so that puts me at $0.14 for a banana and $0.56 for dinner (I'm having the same thing as dinner on day 2).

As the week is winding to a close I find myself wondering what life would be like if I wasn't doing this out of solidarity, but out of necessity. Now that I'm just about done day 5 I seem to be getting used to eating little and the same things often. I can't say I will be missing this when it is over, but I can say that going back will be difficult and that everything will taste a little sweeter and I'll be a lot more mindful about what I'm spending my dollars on.

Solidarity Day 4 - Toronto Edition by @AliaK_

Today is the day that I began to understand what hungry feels like. On day 4 it finally started to get to me. Out of curiosity I checked how many calories I have been eating over the past few days and on most days I've been hovering somewhere around 700! The average person world wide requires at least 1800 calories a day (See here for details about calorie requirements world wide). This means that I've been eating around 1100 fewer calories than the bare minimum anyone should have.

On top of being significantly hungrier than usual, Toronto is being hit with a heat wave to make things worse. Along with making sure to drink lots of water I decided to draw some inspiration for my dinner from a warmer region of the world with a lovely curry!

My breakfast as usual was the delicious banana ($0.14) and my lunch today was my dinner from last night ($0.63). Dinner tonight was the real winner!

  Curried Lentils (sort of)

• Rice ($0.22)
• Lentils ($0.15)
• Green Onion ($0.03)
• Garlic ($0.01)
• Curry Masala ($0.05)

Cook rice according to instructions, cook lentils separately.  When lentils and rice are done saute the garlic and green onions quickly and add in the curry powder or curry masala. After heating the curry and green onion/garlic mixture add in your lentils and give it all a stir. Serve over white rice and eat!

Total for today was under budget by $0.02!

Day 5 I will be going to a work lunch (which was scheduled before the I knew when the challenge was) but the rest of my meals will all be challenge meals! Even though I'm not paying for it (and would technically be under budget) I will still be very conscious of what I'm eating and how likely it would be that I could afford it on a $1.25 budget. Wish me luck!

-Kaila

Global Solidarity Day 4 - What You Do Really Makes an Impact

So yesterday I got up early and I did my laundry. We do all our laundry by hand because (of course) we don't have a machine. This involves washing everything in tubs, rising it out twice, wring it out and hang it to dry. In other words its a lot of work and afterwards I was starving!

Unsurprisingly what you do during the day makes a big difference for the challenge. Sitting in an office all day, its not so bad and I can manage on the food I have but its amazing what a difference a little bit of manual labour makes. If I had to labour all day it would be a totally different story. And of course most of the people who are living on $1.25 are exactly the people who are doing exactly that.  I couldn't imagine, for example, being this guy and trying to get by on $1.25!

Day 4  Summary - Tshs 1443  

Breakfast - Mandazi and Banana again
Lunch- Rice and Vegetables
Dinner- Sweet Potatoes and Vegetables

Food is becoming pretty standard at this point (and very boring because of this). We had to go back to the market last night to buy more fruits and vegetables. It was almost closed and because its Ramadan people start packing up at 6 pm so they can break their fast. We actually got some really good deals because it was the end of the day and people wanted to clear their stock.

Solidarity Day 3 - Toronto Edition by @AliaK_

Day 3 started out the same as my other days; with one banana for breakfast ($0.14) and leftovers from the dinner from the previous evening.($0.56)

It was only day 3 and this challenge had really got me thinking about I have been trying to make my $1.25 budget turn into glorious and delicious meals, that resemble what I would normally make on my usual budget. Dinner on day 3 was one of these attempts that worked out really well, however I had to cut out some significant ingredients that I would normally just go grab from the store.

This amazing meal was my homage to a great recipe that I discovered in Fine Cooking magazine (found here).

In the original recipe you make a has a hash of sweet potato, carrot, and zucchini covered in eggs and smoked cheddar. While I was leaving out the carrots and smoked cheddar I was able to make a very similar recipe within budget. If I didn't already have some of these items I would have been well over budget, but as Adrienne is experiencing in Tanzania, it is better to use things you already have than to let them go to waste.

Ingredients:

• Zucchini ($0.30)
• Yam ($0.11)
• Egg ($0.22)
• Sage (already had)
• 1tsp olive oil (already had)

- chop fresh sage and fry in a small amount of oil
- Cut your Sweet potato/yam into 1cm pieces and add to sage in pan
-Cut Zucchini in 1cm pieces and add when sweet potatoes are half way done (no one likes really mushy zucchini...unless you do, then you can put it in earlier)
- cook egg in your preferred way and add on top of cooked vegetables

Very simply but absolutely delicious. Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, manganese and potassium. This meal is low-cal and high in nutrients; it's definitely one to keep for after the challenge is complete!

-Kaila

Global Solidarity Day 3 - We Get by With a Little Help From Our Friends

Our co-workers have been a little concerned/confused about our challenge. Usually we eat lunch everyday at the local restaurant with them and this week we haven't been. We have tried to explain what we are doing with mixed results. Some people thought we were fasting (which is further confused by the fact its Ramadan). Then the thought was that we were trying to save money.

But what is truly touching is even though people don't really understand why we are doing what we are doing, they are eager to help us out any way that they can.

One of our co-workers, Evah came back from the market with a 1/2 kg of peas because I had asked about them on Friday but said that I wouldn't be able to buy them this week. To me it was so symbolic of how communities here will help each other out in small but significant ways when someone is having a hard time. So last night we cooked them for diner and ate together! It was such a good end to an otherwise very dull food day.

Breakdown of the Day - 

Tshs 1600 under budget because of the gift of the peas

Breakfast- Tshs 550
Mandazi and banana again.... I don't have a picture. I could maintain it was because I thought it would bore you all to see a picture of fried bread and banana again but it was actually because I ate it before I remembered to take the picture. Guess I was hungrier than I thought...

Lunch- Tshs 500
Left overs from the night before beans and sweet potatoes. I have to say, sweet potatoes here are always a bit dry and sitting in a container overnight does nothing to improve them. I was terrible unimpressed by it all. This one has no photo because it was too depressing to contemplate.

Dinner- Tshs 550
The saving grace of the day! We cooked our peas with tomatoes, onions and coconut milk and had them with rice. They were delicious! Unfortunately, this meant we ate them all and are making due with just rice and chopped vegetables for lunch tomorrow.

Recipe for Peas and Coconut milk
1/2 Kg of fresh Peas
2 finely chopped onions
4 chopped tomatoes
oil
1/3 of a cup of coconut milk (and not the low fat kind).

1. Boil peas until cooked and strain them keeping back about 1 cup of the liquid. 
2. In a saucepan heat oil and then add onions, sauté them until they start to turn brown.
3. Add chopped tomatoes and sprinkle generously with salt. Cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes.
4. Mash the tomatoes up with so that you have a tomatoes puree.
5. Fold in peas and let cook for another 5-10 minutes.
6. Add coconut milk. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes or until the coconut milk is well combined.
7. Serve on a bed of rice.

I only wish there had been enough for lunch on Day 4. They were delicious and we plan to add them into our regular food rotation next week!

Solidarity Day 2 - Toronto Edition by @AliaK_

I am not a vegetarian. I've dabbled in cutting out meat here and there, but I always come back to animal protein as a staple food choice. During this challenge the biggest change for me is that I have had to cut meat (along with dairy) from my diet entirely.

That however has not stopped me from making delicious meals that fit my $1.25 a day budget and I have a new found respect for those eating vegan and making yummy things.

 

Breakfast:

A Banana - $0.14. That's it. Just a banana.
 

 

 

 

Lunch:

Remember that delicious stirfry I made for dinner on day one? it served me for two meals and I brought it for lunch the next day!

•  rice noodles ($0.20)
•  zucchini ($0.30)
•  green onion ($0.03)
•  garlic ($0.01)
• bok choy ($0.04)

  

Dinner:

A bit of a mish mash of things but it was incredibly delicious and did not having me missing meat even a little bit!

• White Rice($0.22)
• Lentils ($0.15)
• Lemon ($0.06)
• Mint ($0.01)
• Garlic ($0.01)
• Roasted sweet potatoes ($0.11)

This meal has also been divided into two (the prices listed are for just dinner; lunch tomorrow will be the same.
Grand total for day 2: $1.28 only 3 cents over!

-Kaila

Global Solidarity Challenge Day 2- The Luxury of Choosing Your Food

I learned during day 2 of this challenge that it turns out I'm not very good at eating because I'm hungry. Since becoming a grown-up able to make my own food choices, I eat what I like. If I don't have food that I like, my inclination is just to not eat anything at all. Obviously if you are truly hungry this isn't something you can choose to do so I'm trying not to take this route. I feel a bit like a kid who has to eat what is put in front of her. Makes you realize what a luxury being able to have choose what you eat really is.

Breakfast - Tshs 494 + $0.10 for Tea
So we are eating our Mandazi which is holding up okay along with a banana. I also milked everything I could out of my tea bag for the morning

Lunch - Tshs 513

So we had our leftovers from the meal before. Not bad but not particularly appetizing cold. 

Dinner - Tshs 520

For dinner we cooked up some beans with Tanzanian sweet potatoes. The meal was definitely filling but the potatoes were really quite dry and it was all very boring. We've got the same thing again for lunch tomorrow and I don't think having it sit in a container overnight is going to particularly help.

So far I'm not feeling too hungry though I have a bit of a cold so that is helping to dull my hunger a bit. We'll see whether that will still help come Day 3!

Global Solidarity Challenge - Toronto Edition by @AliaK_

           Toronto is a city that can be described by many words; fun, exciting, busy, crowded...inexpensive is not one of them though. The difficulty with doing the Global Solidarity Challenge in Toronto is that the price of food can be quite high, especially when shopping at chain grocery stores like Loblaws or Metro. My regular weekly grocery shop for two people usually consists of lots of produce, a protein for every meal and good hearty and healthy breakfast items. On food alone we can spend up to $100/week!

A regular weekly grocery shop (excluding meat)

For the week of the Global Solidarity Challenge I will be cutting my weekly grocery spend by nearly 98% in order to live on $1.25 a day. My secret to eating healthy, eating enough and staying on budget is shopping locally at a nearby Chinese supermarket. 

bags of rice

zucchini on special!

My Global Solidarity Shop:

• Bananas
• Rice
• Lentils
• Green onion
• Yams
• Bok choy
• Bean sprouts
• Rice noodles
• Zucchini 
• Garlic

My first meal of the challenge (and my lunch the next day) is  a simple stirfry with rice noodles ($0.41), zucchini ($0.61), green onion ($0.07), garlic ($0.02) and bok choy ($0.09). With my banana ($0.14) for breakfast I'm at a grand total of $1.34 for all food for a day. Only 9 cents over my budget

This delicious meal is filled with greens, has tons of flavour and is unbelievably filling. I consider myself a bit of a foodie (you can see many of my food pics over on Instagram) and this week means a lot less variation in my diet which is a big change. With 5 and a half days to go, I'm going to have to get creative!

-Kaila

Global Solidarity Challenge Day 1

So the day started off with meal planning and shopping. We had a bunch of fruit and vegetables left over in the fridge and we wanted to include them in our budget. However, there was a pineapple which we wouldn't have otherwise wouldn't have bought on $1.25 bought because it cost Tshs 3000! Even split by four this was over 1/4 of our budget for the day. We had a lengthy debate about whether we could afford to eat the pineapple but the ultimate decision was that wasting food was not in the spirit of the challenge either so we just had to figure out a way to work it in. Here is how we made out...

Breakfast - Tshs 216
For breakfast we finished up the left-over Mandazi. We planned to make more so that we would have some for the rest of the week. There were some technical difficulties however (too much oil/yeast not working?) and the dough did not rise properly. We managed to still cook them but they resemble hard biscuits more than donuts. We also got a lot less out of the dough so we'll have to give it another go later in the week. (Recipe is in previous post)

Lunch - Tshs 1235
We made chapati myai (chapati with eggs) which are a lot like crepes. You can have them savoury but we had them with fruit (including the luxurious pineapple!).

Recipe

2 eggs

About of cup of water (Add more if necessary)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 Kg flour

Oil for cooking

1. Beat eggs with the water until well blended.
2. Add salt sugar and flour and beat until smooth.
3. Add more water if necessary so you have a very thin liquidy batter
4. Take a ladlefull of batter and pour it into a small frypan
5. Turn the fry pan so the batter makes a thin coating over the whole pan
6. Cook both sides, flipping once so that both sides are cooked and have golden brown patches
7. Slowly pour a little oil around the outside of the Chapati, and also a very little on the top. Once done flip the Chapati again.
8. Do the same on the other side, Flip it and its ready to serve.

Dinner - Tshs 513

We went with one of our house classic, vegetable stir-fry. We found out that we could get ginger at the market for pretty cheap so that helped boost the flavour along with some very dark soy sauce. Because we are working, we decided our diners had to also stretch to lunch the next day. So the extra is packed up in containers and waiting to go!

So grand total was Tshs 1954 which puts us pretty much right on the nose for $1.25! We managed, though I have to say, I was still pretty hungry after lunch. I was only saved from hunger because cooking the Mandazi required some taste-testing which helped hold me over until diner. We'll see how Day 2 goes!

Cooking Breakfast for Global Solidarity Challenge

We told our co-workers that next week we were doing the Global Solidarity Challenge and we wouldn't be buying food out. They got very concerned that we wouldn't have enough to eat so we got an impromptu cooking class on breakfast food.

So one of the things that we were taught was how to make Mandazi. We are making a whole batch today (Sunday) so we have breakfast for the rest of the week. So here is our breakfast for the next 7 days! 

Recipe for Mandazi

This is a Tanzanian fried bread/donut. We were told you could reduce the sugar and add vegetables to it if you wanted. Our vote was to add cinamon which we hope to try soon!

Ingredients

1 kg of Flour (plus some to roll out the dough)

2 handfulls of sugar (or to preference)

2 spoons of salt

1-11/2 spoons of yeast

3/4- 1 cup of hot oil

Water until it forms a workable dough

1. Combine Flour, sugar salt and yeast and mix well.
2. Heat oil (this helps with activating the yeast) and add it slowly into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Add water combining until you have dough about as soft as pizza dough.
4. Kneed vigorously and until the dough is smooth and elastic and there are no more lumps in it.
5. Let sit in a covered pan in the sun for 1-2 hours or until at least double its size.
6. Heat oil for frying in a deep saucepan.
7. Roll out and cut dough into shapes of whatever size you desire.
8. Fry dough pieces in oil, turning frequently until they are a dark golden brown
9. Let the oil drain before eating (though they are very good hot!)