Food/Ukudla

            So as promised I will share with you what kinds of food are often eaten in Richmond. There are some staple foods that are eaten by almost everyone as it is both cheap and filling. Rice and Putu are eaten very often as a base for meals with some kind of veggie and meat sauce put over it. Putu is made by boiling ground corn meal in water or milk until it becomes mixed together and flaky. It is quite bland by itself but when you put a curry sauce over it or something it is a very nice and filling meal. We have been given many cabbages from the farm lately so the crèche has been making a cabbage curry sauce and putting it over putu which is very yummy. 

Big pot of Putu for creche.

Nasiphi cutting cabbage at creche.

          Jeqe or Zulu bread is made by putting dough in plastic bags and boiling it in a pot with a little bit of water in it. It takes about two hours to cook but it is worth the wait as the warm bread is amazing.

Cooking Jeqe with a rock to keep the lip on.

          Sugar cane is a crop in large abundance around Richmond and people, especially children, enjoy eating it. It is not easy though. It’s almost like a stick where you have to peal the outside bark before you get the sugary flesh. Then the sugar has to be sucked or chewed out of the flesh. It is tasty but my teeth are not used to such a hard thing. 

          At home whenever we cook a whole bird my oldest brother and I always fight, and usually end up sharing, the neck of the bird. Once there were two necks inside the foul and it pretty much made our day that we each got one. Well here you can buy a bag full of chicken necks which we cooked last week with potatoes to eat with putu. 

Chicken necks

Lunch for the creche children

          I went to a wedding last week with Ntsiki and her friend Boneni's family. I had never met the couple who was getting married but it is normal to bring friends to a wedding it’s a very open event where everyone is welcome to come whether you know them or not. Our meal at the wedding was a huge variety. Rice and Jaqa with a choice of beef or chicken and then a scoop each of squash, beet, coleslaw, tomato, spinach, and veggie salads. On the side you could also take a container of fried cow intestines. They were good, better than I thought they would be, I liked the taste but they were extremely fatty so I only ate a couple of them. 

Meal at the wedding

Cow intestines

          Roti is an Indian flat bread, I’m not sure how it is made but I was given some from a friend and wrapped it with eggs one time and a fish curry the other time. 

           When a full bird is cooked none of the bird is put to waste. We cooked whole chickens last week and everything except the feathers and the gallbladder was cooked and eaten. I ate chicken intestines, liver, spleen, gizzard, feet, and heart. And last week as well I tried Ox liver. Each of these was tasty although I would have preferred the liver to be cooked more. Like cow intestines, the chicken intestines and gizzard are quite fatty as well. The heart of the chicken, about the size of a loonie, was very good, my favorite part as it is all meat and has little fat on it.

Chicken feet.

My chicken foot !!!

Mabusi and I cleaning the chicken.

The head which I didn't eat but an told that it's really tasty.

          So there are many other things that I hope to try and taste before I leave. So far I have tried many more things than I have in my last two trips combined so I would say I am off to a good start. 
          I've added here a couple pictures from the wedding I went to on June 1st. We were really happy that it was a warm day so that we could wear our dresses and not freeze all day. 

Ntsiki and I

My want to be husband

Boneni's family

Ntsiki and I

Ntsiki and Boneni

The wedding party at the hall

The bride and groom saying their vows

          Hope you enjoy this post and the pictures !! Believe me these are just a few of them.
Please continue to pray for me as the next couple weeks look really busy for me and the staff. Pray that God would guide us in every decision we make and in everything we do. Pray that we would have no fear of man but that we would be strong and courageous in the work we need to do. Pray that we would be bold in helping the helpless, in showing the love of God and in speaking the gospel. 

I thank my God for you all
Laina