How to perfectly cook ugali without flakes

Ugali is considered to be a staple meal in most Kenyan homes, apart from being economic and filling you can practically have it with almost anything from greens to milk or meat stews.

The majority of people usually have ugali on daily basis, making them possess the prowess of preparing the meal.

However, on the other hand, we have the section of those that do not prepare ugali occasionally enough so they generally find the process challenging as they end up having a flaky end product even after spending several minutes breaking their arm to prepare the meal.

Like our baby girl CEO Kamene  Goro who admitted after several trials she still doesn't know how to cook ugali.

Various people have different ways of preparing ugali, these mostly depend on if one wants a soft or firm one and the type of flour they're using.

There are those who usually stir some maize flour in cold water first, then place the mixture on a heat source, preferably at medium heat.

After the mixture simmers, they add some flour and then mix in order to have a semi-hard meal.

Then there are others who are accustomed to letting the water heat to a boiling point, then gradually adding maize flour while stirring.

Depending on the number of servings one wants, one needs to ensure that the amount of flour they add doesn't overpower the amount of water in the cooking pot.

By this I mean, one needs to ensure that they do not put a lot of flour in the sufuria as this is going to result in a lot of uncooked flour that is not properly mixed with the water at the bottom of the sufuria and in between the meal.

Having excess flour leads to the ugali either having bits of lumps within, or it being overly flaky even after mixing it.

The process of mixing the flour with water also determines whether one is going to attain a well-done ugali, or have a flaky one.

While mixing, one needs to ensure that they add the flour to water in bits and not just pour the entire pack in the boiling water.

It is also advisable to let the flour boil a little after adding it to water before you start stirring. This ensures that no flour is left unmixed and your meal is well cooked.

Ps: always scoop out a cup of hot water from the sufuria before adding in the flour. When mixing in the flour gradually add this water until you attain a consistency you like/ there are no flaky residues in sight.

Also always have your stirring spoon dipped in hot water to help with the mixing of the flour. 

In the event of your ugali having flaky flour remnants before you remove it from heat, pour some hot water over it and mix gradually with your warm stirring spoon.

This is the best way to save your ugali from being flaky to being tasty.

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