Karibu! While traveling in Kenya , I learned about Kenyan cuisine. My Kenyan friends on Lamu taught me to cook real Kenyan pojo. Typically Kenyan is cooking in coconut milk. In Kenya , we used fresh, home-grated coconut that I then pressed. This is, of course, the most delicious, but I must say…using canned coconut milk goes a lot faster.
Ingredients for 4 people Kenyan pojo
- 500 grams (split) peas/mung beans* (or just peas from the freezer like I did)
- 70 grams of tomato paste
- 1 potato
- 1 carrot
- 2 Roma tomatoes
- 1 bell bell pepper (preferably yellow or green)
- 500 ml coconut milk
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- salt and pepper as you see fit
- rice for 4 people or chapati
*Note, for dried mung beans, half: 250 grams is enough to soak,
Preparation Kenyan Pojo
Tip: Always taste in between if you think it has the right flavor. And feel free to add additional spices if you feel like it. For example, choose how spicy or creamy you want the Kenyan pojo to be.
- Always wash the split peas and mung beans beforehand. Don’t you have that much time? Peas from the freezer can also be used. Then do reduce your cooking time (3-5 minutes in coconut milk). Then cook the peeled potato cubes separately until tender.
- Peel the potato and cut it into about 3 cm cubes.
- Then put the split peas (or mung beans) in 500ml of coconut milk and 100ml of water and let it boil. When the coconut milk has evaporated in the pan, add water. After 10-15 minutes, add the diced potatoes. Check if there is still enough cooking liquid, add some more water where necessary. Be careful not to make it too watery. Then add the bouillon cube and tomato paste.
- Let the potatoes and split peas cook on low heat for at least 20 minutes.
- In advance, prepare the rice as directed on the package. During the 20 minutes, finely chop the carrot, bell bell pepper, onion and tomatoes.
- Grab another pan. In this pan, fry the onion, bell bell pepper and carrot. Add cumin seeds and the chili powder and taste in between. Do you like spicy? Then add some extra chili powder. Add the tomatoes and cook briefly until hot. Drain the rice and let it stand for a while.
- Check that the split peas and potatoes are cooked. When they are cooked add the other vegetables and mix everything well. Serve with rice or chapati.