Ugandan Recipes

Ugandan cooking centers on soft, filling staples and rich sauces, eaten with the right hand from a shared table. In the south and center, matooke, green cooking bananas steamed in their leaves and mashed, marks a proper meal, served with groundnut sauce, beans, beef or fish. Elsewhere the base is posho, a stiff maize porridge, kalo, a millet and cassava bread, or boiled cassava, sweet potato and plantain. Groundnuts, sesame and beans supply protein, and greens such as nakati and doodo are cooked down with tomato and onion. Lake Victoria and the Nile provide tilapia and Nile perch, while beef, goat and pork are roasted over charcoal as muchomo. Street food is a point of pride: rolex, an omelet rolled in chapati, gonja, roasted plantain, and kabalagala, banana pancakes, are sold from stalls in every town. Luwombo, a stew steamed in banana leaves, is the dish for celebrations.

Staple ingredients

• matooke (green cooking bananas)
• posho (maize meal)
• cassava and sweet potato
• groundnuts (peanuts)
• beans
• millet
• tilapia and Nile perch
• leafy greens

• Breakfast 1
• Main Dishes 3
• Side Dishes 1
• Snacks 3
• Drinks 1
• Sauces, Dips and Condiments 1

Breakfast

• Katogo (Ugandan Matooke and Beef Breakfast Stew)UG2 h 5 minEasy

Main Dishes

• Luwombo (Ugandan Chicken Stew Steamed in Banana Leaves)UG2 h 35 minMedium
• Muchomo (Ugandan Grilled Pork Skewers)UG45 minEasy
• Posho and Beans (Ugandan Maize Meal with Stewed Beans)UG2 h 25 minEasy

Side Dishes

• Matooke (Ugandan Steamed Green Banana Mash)UG1 h 35 minEasy

Snacks

• Rolex (Ugandan Egg and Vegetable Chapati Roll)UG50 minMedium
• Gonja (Ugandan Charcoal-Roasted Plantain)UG35 minEasy
• Kabalagala (Ugandan Banana and Cassava Flour Pancakes)UG40 minEasy

Drinks

• Bushera (Ugandan Fermented Millet Porridge Drink)UG40 minMedium

Sauces, Dips and Condiments

• Ebinyebwa (Ugandan Groundnut Sauce)UG1 h 5 minEasy