Local Dishes

1. Ugali

   Ugali (stiff maize-flour porridge)

   Usage

   The East African staple. You pinch off a lump by hand, dent it with your fingers and dip it in mchuzi (sauce), greens or fish. It is made not only from maize (mahindi) but also from sorghum (mtama), pearl millet (uwele) or cassava (muhogo) flour

   Grammar Note

   A u-class (11/14) mass noun with no plural. Also called "sima" in parts of Tanzania; for example, "Ugali pia Sima"

2. Wali wa nazi

   Wali wa nazi (coconut rice)

   Usage

   Rice cooked in coconut milk or grated coconut. A fixture of the Swahili coast (Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Mombasa), served with fish or bean stews

   Grammar Note

   The associative -a agrees with the class of the preceding noun: "wali" is u-class so it takes "wa", while N-class "chai" takes "ya" (chai ya maziwa)

3. Pilau

   Pilau (spiced rice)

   Usage

   Rice cooked with cloves (karafuu), cinnamon (mdalasini) and cumin, usually with meat. A festival and holiday dish that reflects Zanzibar's spice trade; also spelled "pilao"

   Grammar Note

   An N-class (9/10) noun, identical in singular and plural. From Persian "polow", cognate with Turkish "pilav" and Urdu "pulao"

4. Biriani

   Biriani (layered spiced rice with meat)

   Usage

   Rice, meat and spices cooked in layers. Especially popular in Zanzibar and along the coast. Where pilau cooks rice and meat together, biriani is generally said to cook them separately and layer them. Also spelled "biriyani"

   Grammar Note

   N-class, identical in singular and plural. Pilau and biriani are part of Arab-Tanzanian foodways. Biriyani is another spelling.

5. Nyama choma

   Nyama choma (grilled meat)

   Usage

   Meat grilled over charcoal, usually goat (mbuzi) or beef (ng'ombe). The archetypal eating-out dish in Kenya and Tanzania; most places sell it by the kilo and serve it with kachumbari and ugali

   Grammar Note

   The verb -choma ("roast") modifies the noun "nyama" directly, with no associative -a between them — a different compounding pattern from the -a type seen in "wali wa nazi"

6. Mishikaki

   Mishikaki (grilled meat skewers)

   Usage

   Bite-sized pieces of meat skewered and grilled over charcoal. A staple of evening street stalls — Forodhani gardens in Zanzibar, the roadsides of Dar es Salaam. Menus often spell it "mishkaki"

   Grammar Note

   An m-/mi- class (3/4) noun: singular "mshikaki", plural "mishikaki". You normally order several, so the plural is what you see. "mishkaki" is an alternative form of "mishikaki"

7. Chapati

   Chapati (unleavened flatbread)

   Usage

   A flatbread of Indian origin. The East African version uses more oil and is rolled so that it separates into layers. Eaten at breakfast or lunch with bean stew or tea

   Grammar Note

   N-class: "chapati" is both singular and plural. Only the numeral agrees, as in "chapati mbili" (two chapatis). Borrowed from Hindi "chapati"

8. Chipsi mayai

   Chipsi mayai (chip omelette)

   Usage

   Fried chips set in beaten egg — Tanzania's best-known street food, said to have been invented on the streets of Dar es Salaam. Eaten with tomato or chilli sauce

   Grammar Note

   "mayai" is the ji-/ma- class (5/6) plural of "yai" (egg). The name simply juxtaposes two nouns with no connector — "chips eggs" — and "chipsi" is borrowed from English "chips"

9. Kuku paka

   Kuku paka (chicken in coconut curry)

   Usage

   Chicken cooked in a coconut-milk sauce. A Swahili-coast dish found across coastal Kenya and Tanzania, also called "kuku wa kupaka" or "kuku na nazi"

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ Here "paka" is not the noun "cat" but the verb -paka, "to smear" — the sauce is brushed on during cooking. In the longer form "kuku wa kupaka" the associative is class-1/2 "wa", because "kuku" is animate (never "ya")

10. Mchuzi

    Mchuzi (sauce, stew, curry)

    Usage

    The word you will see most often on a menu: meat, fish or beans simmered with onion, tomato, curry powder (binzari) or coconut, ladled over ugali or rice. The filling follows the noun — mchuzi wa kuku (chicken), mchuzi wa samaki (fish), mchuzi wa nazi (coconut)

    Grammar Note

    m-/mi- class (3/4): singular "mchuzi", plural "michuzi". Being class 3 it takes the associative "wa", hence "mchuzi wa nazi"

11. Mchuzi wa maharage

    Mchuzi wa maharage (bean stew)

    Usage

    Beans simmered with onion, tomato, chilli and coconut. Especially common in central and northern Tanzania, eaten with rice, ugali or chapati — a safe choice if you are avoiding meat

    Grammar Note

    "maharage" is the ji-/ma- class plural of "haragwe"; the spelling "maharagwe" is equally standard — for example, "Maharagwe (pia: maharage)". Beans are always referred to in the plural

12. Kitoweo

    Kitoweo (the relish eaten with the staple)

    Usage

    The cover term for whatever is eaten alongside the staple (ugali, rice, cassava, bananas). Examples include nyama (meat), dagaa (small dried fish), sukumawiki and matembele. A key word for reading how a menu is organised

    Grammar Note

    ki-/vi- class (7/8), plural "vitoweo". Derived from the verb -towea

13. Sukuma wiki

    Sukuma wiki (braised collard greens)

    Usage

    Chopped greens braised with onion, tomato and carrot. Especially common in Kenya and the cheapest side to have with ugali. Written as one word, "Sukumawiki"

    Grammar Note

    The name literally means "push the week" — cheap greens that stretch the week. Grammatically it is the imperative of -sukuma followed by the noun "wiki"

14. Kachumbari

    Kachumbari (fresh tomato and onion salad)

    Usage

    Chopped tomato, onion and chilli dressed with salt and lime, served raw. It comes with nyama choma and pilau almost without exception

    Grammar Note

    Borrowed from Hindi "cachumber". N-class, identical in singular and plural

15. Kisamvu

    Kisamvu (stewed cassava leaves)

    Usage

    Cassava (muhogo) leaves pounded and simmered with groundnut or coconut. A common vegetable side in Tanzania, served with ugali or rice

    Grammar Note

    ki-/vi- class (7/8), plural "visamvu", though as the name of the dish it stays in the singular

16. Mchicha

    Mchicha (braised amaranth greens)

    Usage

    Amaranth leaves cooked with onion, tomato and sometimes coconut milk or groundnut. It is a leafy vegetable eaten widely across East Africa. English menus usually render it "spinach", though botanically it is not

    Grammar Note

    m-/mi- class (3/4). Plant names commonly fall in class 3 — "mchicha", "muhogo" and "mnazi" all belong here

17. Kande

    Kande (boiled maize and beans)

    Usage

    Whole maize kernels boiled for hours with beans (maharagwe or kunde). Also called "makande"; in Kenya the same dish is widely known by its Kikuyu name, githeri

    Grammar Note

    Both Makande and Kande are used. N-class, identical in singular and plural.

18. Mtori

    Mtori (green banana and meat soup)

    Usage

    A dish of the Chagga of Kilimanjaro region in northern Tanzania: green bananas cooked down with meat into a soup. It is eaten in the evening and also given to the sick, who cannot manage solid food

    Grammar Note

    In towns many people now eat it at breakfast, so the traditional evening timing is not fixed

19. Muhogo

    Muhogo (cassava)

    Usage

    The cassava root. On the street it is grilled over charcoal or boiled and sold with salt and chilli; milled into flour it also becomes ugali. The leaves (kisamvu) are eaten too

    Grammar Note

    m-/mi- class (3/4), plural "mihogo". The tubers themselves are also called "mahogo"

20. Urojo

    Urojo (Zanzibar green soup)

    Usage

    ⚠ Zanzibar only. It is a green soup made from pigeon peas (mbaazi), bananas and spices, often served with sambusa or other fried snacks floated on top. Stalls also sell it under the English name "Zanzibar mix"

    Grammar Note

    A u-class mass noun with no plural. You will rarely see it on a mainland menu

21. Sambusa

    Sambusa (fried savoury pastry)

    Usage

    A triangular fried pastry filled with minced meat, vegetables or potato. Its origin is in the Middle East before the 10th century. Also sold under the English spelling "samosa", which dominates in Kenya

    Grammar Note

    N-class, identical in singular and plural. From Persian "sanbusag"

22. Matoke

    Matoke (cooking bananas)

    Usage

    ⚠ Regional. Peeled green bananas steamed or boiled as a staple, centred on Uganda and north-western Tanzania (Kagera). Regional forms include "matooke", "ebitooke" and "igitoki"

    Grammar Note

    Treated as a ma-class collective plural. Sweet bananas eaten raw are called "ndizi" instead

Browse all TravelPhrases languages