Life & Work

Githeri, sweet potatoes and grilled lamb at Radisson Blu

Blu

A taste Roast lamb, creamed spinach, sweet potatoes and githeri on the side with kachumbari (left) and sous chef Radisson Blu’s Larder Robert Aluda (right).- PHOTOS | SALATON NJAU | NMG

Sweet potato mash, lamb chop choma and spinach; that’s Chef Jeff Gitonga’s pick for my Monday night meal at the Radisson Blu kitchen where I am exploring what African cuisines are on offer.

I find the chef grilling the lamb chops. Another chef is skinning steamed sweet potatoes at the inner counter.

‘‘Mashed sweet potato?’’ I quip. This is reliably traditional meal, but maybe as a breakfast staple in many African homes and not dinner.

But heritage food and the revival of old recipes is big in the country right now. Kenyans seems to have come full circle, with restaurants trumpeting their African cuisines menus as if it is a niche innovation. 

And so I stand back and watch with slight astonishment as Gitonga adds butter in to a pan then the sweet potatoes. He mashes it as adds coconut milk and a sprinkling of salt. 

“Simplicity does it,” he says as he exuberantly pounds away. He is doing it on the flame. The pan seems to be burning, but he is unperturbed.

“It’s good for a rich intense flavour.” He pops the half-cooked lamb chops into the oven. And it is out within six minutes. They have modestly been seasoned with black pepper, chilli powder, rosemary and salt.

“We grill the chops on the open air grill for seven minutes, to seal and lock in the juices and then put it in the oven to cook it on the inside,” he explains.

Nutty taste

For a starter Gitonga suggests pumpkin soup. “It would go well with the African flavours,” he assures. 

It is warm and rich. To achieve the nutty taste, he explains he roasted the halved pumpkin in its entirety with the seeds and rind on in the oven.

“Once it is roasted and charred you get the burnt taste of it,” says Gitonga.

After removing the seeds and frying the cubed pumpkin in onions for a few minutes he added leeks, spring onions and water and let it boil.

This mixture is then blended and sieved to give a thick soup into which he adds a dash of cinnamon and pepper apparently to give it that oaky taste and cut the sweetness of pumpkin. He adds in some salt and some cream to the enrich it.

“These give some punch to the soup, which would otherwise be sweet,” he says.

The spinach is fired in onions and garlic.

Dinner is served in approximately 25 minutes. We sit at the partially covered patio overlooking the hotel’s garden and I dig into my meal.

The mashed potato is creamy and fluffy. But it is the piquant, tangy, spicy Swahili sauce it is served with, whose exciting aroma borders more on the mysterious that excites my brain and tantalises my taste buds.

I can practically feel the warm breath of spices. As if reading my mind, Gitonga remarks, “It’s a mixture made out of tomatoes, onions, a bit of garlic and cumin, chilli, coconut milk and a bit of coriander cooked and blended.”

The succulent lamb chops are a little too fatty for my liking and I have to set the fatty bits aside. But it is rich in flavour.

With my main dish comes githeri on the side. To my delight it is made with sweet corn instead of ordinary maize which can sometimes be bland and chewy. The sweet corn makes it is sweet and light against the spiciness of the curry sauce. The maize just bursts in your mouth.

Growing demand

Radisson Blu has themed-dinners focusing on different cuisines.

Chef Gitonga who has been the head chef at the hotel since it opened in 2012, confesses African dishes are an exciting way of exploring what the continent has to offer in terms of cooking skill. 

“Traditional foods are an important part of our culture. We try to be as innovative as we can to give our diners an excellent experience. We don’t just serve Kenyan but cuisines from other African countries as well. And they often come back and ask for new experiences of such foods because they are rich and hearty.  Plus people have become more health conscious,” he says.

And the demand for African foods is growing. About 20 to 30 per cent of diners order African cuisines.

“You’ll be surprised how many tourists come seeking the authentic African experience,” he says.

Chef Gitonga won’t let me off the hook with the sweet potato talk.

“Most people are surprised about the sweet potato mash. They are as surprised when we serve the sweet potato salad.”

Radisson Blu will be serving an African Easter brunch from 11am to 4 p.m.