Story by: Tejal Rao, Contributor to The New York Times | (Top) Photo Courtesy of: Meredith Heuer, The New York Times
NAIROBI, Kenya — The downpour stopped, so Kirti Patel decided to hold the dinner party on her balcony, with its views of colossal flowering trees and construction that had stalled for the rainy season. Pink vines of bougainvillea were in bloom, and the raw scent of ginger and garlic was in the air.
The centerpiece of the meal was Ms. Patel’s labor-intensive rendition of kuku paka, a coconut-chicken dish with roots about 300 miles east of her home, in the city of Mombasa.
(Above) Kaluhi Adagala, a Nairobi food blogger, with a plate of kuku paka.
Photo by: Adriane Ohanesian, The New York Times.
“This dish is an occasion.”
—Kaluhi Adagala
For centuries, that port on the Indian Ocean was a hub for immigrants, many from other parts of East Africa, the Middle East and India. Kuku paka is a product of the diverse influences that shaped Kenya’s coastal cuisine, and today it is craved and recreated in home kitchens and restaurants all over the country, and beyond.
The dish seems simple: chicken on the bone, in a sauce of spiced coconut milk.
But you’ll find the chicken cooked in a number of ways — grilled over charcoal, or steamed with aromatics, or braised. That sauce can be pale and soupy, or dark and glossy. It can be mild and easygoing, or it can prickle with chiles so your eyes fill with tears..
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