Cooking African Style

Visitation in the village followed by a good, home-cooked African meal - can't rightly beat that for a Saturday morning.  While the others went through the village of Dikgale, I stayed with Mrs. Matete to help with the lunch preparations.

I still do not know how the African women do it, but a minute after stepping into a smoke-filled kitchen, my eyes are watering beyond use.  Dear Ruth put a chair inside for me to sit on while cutting up the veggies... though the chair seemed to scoot closer and closer to the kitchen door the longer I was in there.  Ruth noticed my obvious happy bawling and brought me tissue paper, which kept me company the whole 2 hours.  As I sat there chopping onions in a super smoky room, I closed my eyes... the onions turned out less than evenly chopped, but I finished the job! :)

Mrs. Matete and I mostly communicated in Sotho, Afrikaans and when neither of those worked, we used sign language. :)  If you find a good three-legged pot, here's a fine African gravy for you to try!

3 onions, chopped

1 can baked beans

1/2 pack minestrone soup mix

5 potatoes, diced

3 tomatoes, grated (yes, grated)

1 cup water

salt to taste

Serve with mealie pap, chicken and coke.