These African-Californian Recipes Are Simple, Healthy, and Everyday Staples

The translation of “sukuma wiki” is deceitful. In Swahili, sukuma means “to push,” and wiki means “the week,” as in the day of the week. The name of this dish has nothing to do with energy, but rather it is a commentary on how cheap this dish is to prepare—cheap enough to push you through the week until you get paid. In Kenya, sukuma leaves can be purchased whole or precut. The market vendors cut them thin, even thinner than angel hair pasta. They grip the tightly bound bundles as they gently shave off layers with a steady hand that rivals a good barber. Sukuma can be your main dish or a side as part of a larger meal. A classic way to enjoy this is with ugali, cooked white cornmeal similar to firm grits or polenta.

On the Kenyan Coast, street food vendors have charcoal grills roasting a variety of vegetables all day long. The sweet potatoes are cooked skin-on, and when ordered, the vendors split them open before adding a generous squeeze of lime and a few shakes of chili salt. Feel free to throw these on the grill when possible, but the seasoning alone will liven up otherwise boring roasted sweet potatoes.

Any food cooked on an open flame has big potential to be delicious. Shrimp are simple—just do not overcook them! Butterflied shrimp are great for two reasons: It’s easy to devein the shrimp, and butterflying gives you maximum surface area for any seasoning. The star here is the garlicky, spicy peri-peri butter that gets basted on top of the salty, charred shrimp. Well, I guess the only other misstep here is not having some bread to mop up all the delicious butter off the plate.