Easy recipe: Swahili pack potatoes (viazi vya madonge)

Let’s make some delicious pack potatoes, a very popular snack on the coast of East Africa.

What you will need:

1 kg unpeeled potatoes (washed)

2 cups of flour

2 limes

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 litre of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

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1 cup of water

Salt to taste

What to do:

In a pot, fill with water and boil the unpeeled potatoes until they are soft and the skin starts to peel off. Remove from the heat and peel off the skin completely. Then, set aside.

In a separate bowl, with the flour, add the salt, black pepper, turmeric powder, water, and half the lime juice. Mix with your hand or a whisk, if you wish, to form a smooth paste, ensuring there are no lumps.

In a small bowl, make your chilli filling using the cayenne pepper, salt and the remaining lime juice. Set aside.

Split each peeled potato in half.

Fill the centre of each potato half with the chilli filling and then sandwich the two halves back together. Portion each filled potato into 3 chunks. Repeat this process for the rest of the potatoes.

In a deep frying pan over medium heat, pour in 1 litre of vegetable oil. Dip and coat each potato chunk thoroughly in the flour mixture.

Then, deep fry the coated potatoes until they are crispy and golden brown. Serve with tamarind sauce.

To make the tamarind sauce:

1 cup thick tamarind extract

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons honey

Make your tamarind extract by soaking fresh tamarind in water and squeezing it to extract a thick paste. Mix all the tamarind sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Serve the crispy potatoes with the tamarind sauce. Enjoy!