Somalian cuisine

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Somali cuisine varies from region to region and is a mixture of native Somali, Ethiopian, Yemeni, Persian, Turkish, Indian and Italian influences. It is the product of Somalia's tradition of trade and commerce. All food is halal.

Breakfast

canjeero is a Somali staple food

Location of Somalia

A Somali camel meat dish

Baasto (pasta) and digaag (chicken) take-out from a Somali restaurant

Breakfast (quraac) is an important meal for Somalis, who often start the day with some style of tea (shaah). The main dish is typically a pancake-like bread (canjeero) similar to Ethiopian injera but smaller and thinner, which might also be eaten with a stew (maraq) or soup.^[1]

Canjeero is eaten in different ways. It may be broken into small pieces with ghee (subag) and sugar added. For children, it is mixed with tea and sesame oil (macsaaro) until mushy. There may be a side-dish of liver (beef), goat meat (hilib ari), diced beef cooked in a bed of soup (suqaar) or jerky (oodkac or muqmad), which consists of small dried pieces of beef, or goat or camel meat, boiled in ghee.

Polenta (mishaari or boorash porridge) with butter and sugar is indigenous to Mogadishu.

Bread (rooti) is indigenous in the north. In Somalia a sweeter and oilier version of canjeero called malawax is a staple of most home-cooked meals.

Lunch

Lunch (qado) is often an elaborated main dish of rice (bariis) spiced with cumin (kamuun), cardamom (heyl), cloves (qaranfuul) and sage.

In the south, a hotpot of rice, vegetables, and sometimes meat, called Iskudhexkaris is common. Beyond the many styles of stew (maraq), rice is also served with meat and/or banana on the side. In Mogadishu, steak (busteeki) and fish (kaluun or "malaai") are widely eaten.

Unlike the ugali of Kenya, Somalis have a softer cornmeal (soor) mashed with fresh milk, butter and sugar or with a well in the soor filled with maraq.

A variation of the Indian chapati is the sabaayad. Like the rice, it is served with maraq and meat on the side. The sabaayad of Somalia is often somewhat sweet, and is cooked in a little oil.

Pasta (baasto) is often served with a heavier stew than the Italian pasta sauce, and like the rice, it is also served with a banana.

Spaghetti can also be served with rice, a novelty dish known as "Federation." the dish is usually served with equal (whole) portions of rice and spaghetti, split on either side of a large oval plate. It is then layered with assorted stewed meats and vegetables, salad and an optional banana. It has been suggested that name of the dish is derived from the union of two dishes in Somalia and also from the size and quantity of the food. you will not find this dish served in the average Somali household since it is uncommon to cook both rice and pasta in one meal. It is instead more common to order the dish from traditional Somali restaurants where both rice and spaghetti are always readily available, hence its novelty status.

Common drinks at lunch are balbeelmo (grapefruit), raqey (tamarind) and isbarmuunto (lemonade). In Mogadishu, cambe (mango), zaytuun (guava) and laas (Lassi) are common as well. In Hargeisa in the north, the preferred drinks are fiimto (Vimto) and tufaax (apple).

Dinner

Various types of Somali dishes

Dinner in Somali is called ("casho"), and is served as late as 9 pm. During Ramadan, supper-time often follows Tarawih prayers, sometimes even as late as 11 pm.. Cambuulo, a common dinner dish, is made of well-cooked azuki beans mixed with butter and sugar. The beans, which on their own are referred to as digir, can take up to five hours to finish cooking when left on the stove at a low temperature. In 1988, the Somali newspaper Xiddigta Oktoober conducted a survey in which it found that 83% of Mogadishu's residents preferred cambuulo as their main dinnertime meal. It was a startling discovery since the dish is considered to be somewhat "low class" due to its flatulence-inducing after-effects caused by the natural sugars (known as oligosaccharides) in its beans. Qamadi (wheat) is also used: cracked or uncracked, it is cooked and served just like the azuki beans.

Rooti iyo xalwo, slices of bread served with a gelatinous confection, is another dinner dish. Muufo, a variation of cornbread, is a dish made of maize and is baked in a foorno (clay oven). It is eaten by cutting it into small pieces , adding macsaro (sesame oil) and sugar, which is mashed together with black tea.

Before sleeping, a glass of milk spiced with cardamom is often consumed.

Snacks

Somali sambusas (samosas) being prepared

Sambuusa, a Somali version of the samosa, is a triangular snack that is commonly eaten throughout Somalia during the afur (iftar). The Somali version is spiced with hot green pepper, and the main ingredient is often ground meat. Bajiye, a variation of the Indian pakora, is a snack in southern Somalia. The Somali version is a mixture of maize, vegetables, meat, spices, which is then deep fried. It is eaten by dipping it in bisbaas, a hot sauce. Kabaab similar to that of Persia is not that widespread, but a few Somalis in the diaspora eat it. Fruits such as mango, guava, banana and grapefruit are eaten throughout the day as snacks.

Sweets

Gashaato is a coconut-based confection, set here to a backdrop of the Somali national flag.

Xalwo or halva is a popular confection^[2] served during special occasions such as Eid celebrations or wedding receptions. Xalwadii waad qarsatey! ("You hid your xalwo!") is the phrase that follows a person who has eloped or has a small, private wedding. Xalwo is made from sugar, cornstarch, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder, and ghee. Peanuts are also sometimes added to enhance texture and flavor.^[3]

Gashaato or qumbe, made of coconut, oils and sugar, and spiced with cardamom, is a much-loved sweet. The sugar is brought to boil with a bit of water, then the cardamom is added, followed by shredded coconut.

Xalwo (halwo) or halva is a staple of Somali cuisine.

Lows iyo sisin is a favorite sweet in the south, made of a mixture of peanuts (lows) and sesame seeds (sisin) in a bed of caramel. It sticks together to form a delicious bar.

Jalaato, similar to the American popsicle, is made by freezing naturally sweet fruits with a stick in the middle. More recently in Mogadishu, it has grown to include caano/milk jalaato, which then requires sugaring up. The word jalaato comes from gelato, which is Italian for "frozen".

Buskut or Buskud comprise many different types of cookies, including very soft ones called daardaar (literally "touch-touch" due to its smooth, delicate texture).

Doolshe encompass many delectable styles of cakes.

Icun is also a sweet mostly eaten by southern Somalis. It is made of sugar and flour mixed with oil. People prefer to say Icun I calaangi caloosha I gee (Eat me, chew me then take me to your stomach) when they see it. It is mainly eaten in weddings and Eid times but southern Somalis always do make it home and eat it as part of a dessert.

There are many sweets eaten in weddings, parties or Eid times such as Baalbaaloow, Shuushuumoow, Bur Hindi (Indian flour, originated from India) as well as qumbe (coconut) made of coconuts mixed with sugar to form a bar just like Peanuts and Seeds.

After-meal

A dabqaad incense burner

Somalis traditionally perfume their homes after meals. Frankincense (lubaan) or a prepared incense (cuunsi), which in countries in the Arabian Peninsula is known as bukhoor, is placed on top of hot charcoal inside an incense burner or censer (a dabqaad).^[4] It then burns for about ten minutes. This keeps the house fragrant for hours. The burner is made from soapstone found in specific areas of Somalia.

Notes

1. ^ Abdullahi, pp.111-114.
2. ^ "Somali Halwa." Mysomalifood.com. Accessed July 2011.
3. ^ Ali, p. 79
4. ^ Abdullahi, pp.98-99

References

• Ali, Barlin (2007). Somali Cuisine. AuthorHouse. ISBN 1425977065. http://books.google.ca/books?id=QBZZGdM4-PkC. 
• Abdullahi, Mohamed Diriye (2001). Culture and customs of Somalia. Greenwood. ISBN 9780313313332. http://books.google.com/?id=2Nu918tYMB8C. 

External links

• My Somali Food
• Recipe & Cook Book:Somali Tea & Treats
• Somali Recipes
• Tammy's Somali Home