Turkey Day = Chicken Tikka Day?

We made it work. While at home I normally celebrate with a Thanksgiving lunch, we had a Thanksgiving dinner here in Mombasa. It was far from traditional, but I guess we worked with what we had.

Round 1

Chicken Tikka from Barka Restaurant’s sidewalk charcoal grill pit. A Middle-Eastern take on barbequed poulty.

Some of the best chicken I've ever had

Sauteed vegetables, prepared by yours truly. We purchased them today from a huge local market, where we bartered like we’ve been in Kenyan markets our whole lives.

Our haul? 3 peppers, 4 gigantic carrots, 4 zucchini, 3 beets, 2 onions, 2 heads of broccoli, and garlic….for a whopping total of around 200 shillings ($2). Not bad, I think.

And I didn’t even burn anything while attempting to cook a massive amount of vegetables on an unpredictable gas stove. There wasn’t much left over, so I’m hopinh that’s a good sign.

Fresh-baked bread, courtesy of Charlotte, our Danish roommate. Reeeeally good.

Makeshift Mini-feast

Dessert #1: Crepes. Truly American, I know. But we have Nutella, and we have two Europeans. It seemed natural.

Crepes and options: Nutella, sugar, and Kenya's "maple-flavored syrup"

And last but not least, dessert #2….a pumpkin pie! Yeah, it actually happened. Homemade. Peter, the Belgian of the European roommate couple, bravely dared to bake a pie in Kenya. There were a number of necessary adjustments because...

1. We don’t have a pie pan. Enter a frying pan with a metal handle…pumpkin pot pie.

2. True pumpkins are in season in January. Kenyans at the market pointed us to their “pumpkins” which look suspiciously like butternut squash. Vegetable cousins are bound to taste similar in a pie, right?

3. They don’t sell premade crusts here. Peter made one from scratch using a fork to mix for quite some time before reaching pie-crust consistency.

The “pumpkin” indeed turned out to be a butternut squash. Mashing it was pretty difficult. We tried soaking it, steaming it, and finally baking it before it was mash-able.

"Well, maybe if we bake it...?"

After we obtained enough mashed squash for the recipe, Peter slaved away in the kitchen after dessert round #1 while the rest of us watch “Crazy, Stupid Love”, our most recent $1 movie find.

At around 10 PM, this appeared from the kitchen. 

"Alright, it's done! Does this look like a pumpkin pie?"

The moment of truth had arrived…how would this strange Kenyan experiment taste?

Good. Darn good, actually. It was a little bit like a quiche compared to regular pumpkin pie, but the spices were on point, and the crust was the best I’ve tasted. I would actually make a butternut squash pie again.

So there it is. Our Thanksgiving celebration was a success, in my opinion. Delicious food, new friends, exciting experiences…something to be thankful for.

We go with the flow. The apartment only has 2 cups and 3 coffee mugs. 

Earlier in the day, we had lunch at our newly discovered favorite Kenyan restaurant, Barka. We kept it traditionally American—coconut-covered beans, sukuma wiki (kale), eggplant, and chapati. Maybe not so traditional, but still delicious. Arguably the best chapati and vegetables in town.

I think Coca-Cola donated all the restaurant signs in Kenya.

Buffet style, but you pick what you want. Don't judge a book by its cover; this place is incredible.