Category: muthokoi

How to Cook the Best Muthokoi

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Muthokoi is very popular among the Akamba tribe. It refers to:
           a) Dry maize whose husks have been removed
           b) A cooked mixture of this maize with peas/beans

Making muthokoi takes a few hours and the process starts by boiling the maize with the peas/beans. It is then cooked with vegetables like onions, potatoes, cabbages,  cowpeas leaves or pumpkin leaves; the choice is yours.

In this recipe, we will be cooking muthokoi with the following items:

Ingredients (Serves 3)

  • 1 cup muthokoi (dry maize with husks removed)
  • 1 1/2 cups dry pigeon peas
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 large cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 3 chopped tomatoes
  • 3 chopped carrots
  • Cooking oil
  • Salt

The maize and peas can be soaked for two hours to soften them and make cooking easier. After soaking the water is discarded and clean water poured into a saucepan where they are boiled for about one and half hours.

Equally, they can be boiled for about three hours. Add water continously if it dries up. Once fully cooked, the muthokoi is drained with the water being poured away. If the water is not thrown away it could make the food go bad and have a foul smell.

Method:

  1. Boil the muthokoi and peas, adding water continously until cooked.
  2. Once the excess water has been drained, saute the onion in another large saucepan.
  3. Add the crushed garlic and once a delicious aroma fills the air, add the carrots, tomatoes and potatoes.
  4. Cook until the potatoes are almost done.
  5. Add salt, royco and a little water and bring to a boil.
  6. Pour the boiled muthokoi into the vegetables and cook for about ten minutes.
  7. Serve

Muthokoi can also be cooked with cowpeas, green/fresh pigeon peas or any variety of beans.

If you decide to use green peas/beans, make sure that you cook the muthokoi (dry maize) for about thirty minutes before adding the beans/peas. This will ensure that the beans/peas do not become too cooked or mushy since they cook faster than dry maize.

    Boiled only beef/chicken stew

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    Considering that today most of us eat unhealthy foods compared to our grandparents and great-grandparents, I think it is good that we try as much as possible to reduce our intake of these foods.
    I don’t like using a lot of cooking fat or oil when cooking, although some dishes require it especially those that have to be dip-fried. Lately, I have been trying to come up with some easy recipes that can be cooked by methods like boiling, steaming and baking.

    I have found that soups that include beef and chicken can be cooked by boiling only and the end-product is very delicious. Also, boiling does not require a lot of attention and I can actually multitask; I can be doing my laundry on a Saturday morning while boiling away some lunch soup/stew, githeri(mixture of beans/peas and maize), or muthokoi(beans/peas and maize without the husks). Githeri and muthokoi cooked using dry maize and beans take longer periods to cook than the stews.

    There are those who soak the maize and beans overnight then boil for a few minutes the following. I DO NOT do this because the food is not usually as delicious compared to that which has been boiled for two or three hours depending on the amount.

    Anyway, this post is not about cooking maize and beans/peas but boiled stew. One of my favorite is a mixture of beef, potatoes, plantains, cabbage and other vegetables. I’ll however post this recipe later.
    Let me share this simple beef/chicken stew with you. It is similar to the other that I will post later.

    The idea is to start with the ingredients that take a much longer time to cook, in this case, meat. Those that take the least time are added at the end.

    Serves 4
    Ingredients:

    • 1/2 kg beef/chicken
    • 4 large potatoes cut in half
    • 3 large tomatoes
    • 1 bunch coriander/dania (optional)
    • Royco

    Procedure:

    1. Put chopped meat into a coking pot and add about 3 cups of water. Bring to boil.
    2. Boil for about thirty minutes until they are almost tender.
    3. Add the potatoes, cover and cook until the a fork can pierce the potatoes without crumbling.
    4. Add the chopped tomatoes and dania. Add some little royco/curry powder of your choice and cook till both the potatoes and tomatoes are cooked.
    5. Add the rest of the royco and salt and let boil for five minutes.
    6. Serve 

    Other spices can be added instead of the royco like ground garlic or ground coriander if the fresh alternative is not used. At this point, add only those spices that are in ground form sice they would not require a lot of cooking.
    The stew can be served with chapati, rice, mukimo, boiled plantains, or even served as an accompaniment of the githeri (whose easy recipe I will post later).
    You can experiment with other ingredients and vegetables to your liking but remember to always start with those that take longer time to cook.