Millet Porridge

Since I’m attempting this whole begin at the beginning thing despite beginning at the middle, I figured my first recipe could only be millet porridge. It was the first meal that I learned how to make and what I wake up to every morning (other than the surprisingly warm and satisfying bucket baths, John waiting very sweetly at my gate, and the jumping of Dog with No Name). Plus, it’s painfully easy to make, as long as you can find millet flour. You can make this with corn flour too, but I’m thinking wheat flour is probably not the best risk you can take today.

Speaking of risks, I learned quite a while ago that hippos are the biggest animal killer of humans in Africa, despite the number of charismatic carnivores featured in the American consciousness about Africa. Cue mental images of lions attacking the hapless white family. But seriously, hippos are massive and could easily take me out just by sitting on me, although human deaths are caused much more often by their powerful jaws than their similarly powerful rears. They are very territorial, and they “like to kill for fun,” as our tour guide put it in a surprisingly cavalier tone. Thus, what should I be woken up to this weekend but the odd, lowing call of hippos just outside our campsite? Dreaming Lauren thought that it was a warthog, and tried to scare it off with some pitiful barking in my sleep, but the hippos were somehow less than terrified. Luckily, there was an electric fence between us, but as hippos have 4 cm thick skin, it seemed about the same level of protection as me barking in my sleep. Oh Africa, you do have a way with me.

And on to the cooking!

Time: 15 minutes

Supplies: Pot for heating over the stove, separate bowl for mixing, strainer

Ingredients: 1 c. millet flour, 3 c. water, half a lime, sugar to taste

*Warning* Kenyans have a way of obfuscating things. It’s nearly impossible to get a straight answer on anything, so measurements are no different. Thus, these are rough estimates, so check with the pictures!

Directions:

      1)  Heat up 2 c. water on stove. It should not reach boiling point.

     

       2)   In a separate bowl, mix 1 c. tap water with the millet flour and stir.

     3)   Pour the millet mixture into the now warm water in the pot and stir. It should be smooth and thick enough to just barely drip off a spoon.

     4)   Using a strainer, add the lime and stir.

      5)   Add sugar to taste! Eat up!