Disclaimer: the photos of the first few countries aren’t that great because I wasn’t really planning on posting them anywhere outside the family group chat, haha.
I might revisit them with what I’ve learned since beginning my journey.
How it began:
This project, as I’m sure many others also do, started as a late night thought. Some time ago, in March of 2025 I was lying in bed thinking “I’m kind of bored of always eating the same things” so I turn to my wife and tell her I’m going to try something ambitious and new. I’m going to make us dinner from every country in the world!
In my newfound motivation I asked her “Hey hey tell me the first country I should do” and she – half asleep – responded “I don’t know, … do Uganda.” – “Uganda? I have no idea what their cuisine is like.” – “Well, you asked for a challenge, no?”
And that was the beginning of my journey.
Figuring it out
With no idea where to start or how to even cook Ugandan food I went to the first place to look: Google. I read through the Wikipedia page on Uganda and tried to look up a few things about customs and traditions regarding Ugandan culture and cuisine. I learned about the kingdom of Buganda, which is in Uganda, and their food, and it became time to decide which dishes to cook.
This week’s menu (2025/3/15)
Chicken Luwombo: a traditional Bugandan stew (Info) (Video tutorial) and the star of the show!
Chicken Luwombo was one of the first things that came up. It’s a chicken stew, slowly braised in banana leaf or – if need be – aluminium foil. Since my leaves were a bit brittle even after steaming them for a bit, I decided to make aluminium foil “bowls” and line them with banana leaf for the aroma. Then the package of chicken, veggies, “irish” (which is what potatoes are called in Uganda) and tomato went in the steamer for 2 hours.
Out came delicious, tender, flavorful chicken and vegetables, which, if presented well, can bring about quite a “wow” effect.
Matoke: a thick banana dish. Filling, comforting, delicious. (Recipe)
Matoke is a special type of East African cooking banana that I, somewhat surprisingly, found without any issue at our international supermarket (shoutout Prosi Exotic Supermarket). This was maybe my favorite of the dishes since it was really comforting.
Sukuma Wiki, “stretch the week”: A simple everday dish but full of nutrients and quite tasty (Recipe). This recipe I sadly couldn’t find collard greens for so I made it with cabbage instead. It was tasty but I felt like it was maybe missing a little bit due to the substitution.
Groundnut (peanut) Sauce: (Recipe) This didn’t really do it for me, but I may have messed up the preparation. Generally I’ve read that many dishes are accompanied by groundnut sauce so I wanted to make it as sort of a condiment with the other dishes.
Mandazi, East African donuts: (Recipe) These aren’t included in the picture because – look – you try something new, one or two things you’ll mess up. My frying oil was too hot so they ended up being brown on the outside and raw and gooey in the center – not in a nice way. I still urge you to try it because the one or two I could salvage were quite delicious!
All in all I had a LOT of fun making all these new things and my path was set for the upcoming weeks of making more and more delicious dishes.
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