It's Uji Time!

Uji is the name for Kenyan porridge. Uji is typically made with maize, sometimes mixed with sorghum, finger millet, bulrush millet and amaranthus seeds, ground together into flour. And, unlike our porridge, uji is drunk from a mug. Uji is fed mainly to young children, including kindergarten, and standard 1 and 2 students, and nursing mothers and is part of the complementary feeding and weaning regime for Kenyan babies. Because it is mainly maize (think cornstarch) only a small amount of the ground flour is needed to prepare the thick 'drinking yogurt' consistency and thus the energy content is low. Fermenting the uji flour, similar to a sourdough but using naturally occurring yeast on the grains, may breakdown some of the starch in the mixture and allow more flour to be used to obtain the desired consistency, and consequently increase the energy content of the uji. The yeast may also produce B vitamins to add nutrients to the porridge.

Jennifer M. kindly showed us how fermented uji can be made. She washed the dried maize and finger millet in the evening and, after draining, placed in a plastic bag. In the morning we went to the posho mill and had the grains 'wet milled' adding about 4 parts of water to 1 part of grain. The bottled slurry was held overnight and then a portion boiled in the morning, with more water, to make the uji drink. With a little sugar it made a sweet almost lemony drink that Jennifer's children consider the ultimate comfort food. but is not to the liking of all according to Jennifer M.

Other options in making uji more nutritious include mixing the maize with the other grains which have higher protein and complementary amino acids, using maize which has not been dehulled (thus retaining B vitamins and oil), and adding milk to the uji during cooking. Chritina and Kaylynne will be evauating uji's and recommending to schools and mothers preparations that can benefit the nutrition for the children receiving uji as an important part of the diet during these periods of fast growth.

The school children love their uji and I certainly enjoy it, especially the fermented uji, after many sips over the years. It does seem to be an acquired taste. According to Kaylynne “the only thing worse [tasting] than uji is fermented uji”.

Colleen Walton

June 26, 2010