Tanzanian Food

Recently I was in Tanzania working in a hospital in Dar es Salaam. The local food at the hospital canteen and most street cafes was amazing, simple filling stuff.
I'm really craving the beef stew and beans, anyone know a recipe? Been searching online but I've found no recipes that seem authentic.
Pic related, pretty much exactly how I had it. Beef stew on bottom left

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Both these pics have an amazing red sauce they'd give you so your carbs weren't dry, it tasted like red peppers and tomatoes

They have small portions of the stew, presumably because meat is expensive.
Found this pic on a hotel menu. From what I can remember the sauce looked deep red, often there were carrots or okra.
It was usually a thin sauce though, all the recipes I've found online suggest coconut milk and potato. While I've eaten that there, it's not the dish I'm thinking of.
We just called it "wali nyama", meat and rice

i stayed in moshi for a couple of months on my gap yah

i remember having beef/goat and plantain/banana stew with ugali quite a lot, sometimes with braised greens that i'm going to guess were collard/mustard greens or something like kale. the meat varied quite a lot but i would use shank or oxtail or rib meat personally. i remember cumin, turmeric and coriander, probably some kind of curry powder was generally used.

the beans we used to have with chapatis. i feel like they were cooked down with coconut milk and sometimes a puree of onions, peppers, tomatoes and spices like what might be used to make jollof rice.

little bonus tidbit - we did kili and when we came back they offered to cook us our favourite white people food and the consensus was that we wanted spag bol. they made it for us along with a huge heap of grated cheese, something none of us had eaten for ages. we all put shitloads of cheese on top of the sauce and watched in amazement as it seemed to melt incredibly quickly. turns out it was butter

Harissa?

OP here, I often had mystery greens. Were they gritty for you? Turns out they were the leaves of sweet potato.

I passed through Tanzania about a month ago. Pic related is what we ate at a bus stop somewhere between Arusha and Dar. Surprised to find actual food instead of chicken and chips.

that's interesting! i knew nothing about food back then so all my observations are retroactive and rather limited i'm afraid. yes, the greens were very gritty

No, it wasn't really hot, more of a rich savory taste. Sometimes the broth was almost clear. I'm sure I could just stew yo the meat and veggies, but the spices I couldn't pick out

Nothing beats a 4am chips mayai, though. Preferably after a few too many Safari's.

Haha, the locals were often amused at a mzungu eating local food. Once I'd picked up enough Swahili I tried to ask neighbouring diners what what in the food. I struggled to ask about the food in my original post though, the staff were always busy. Couldn't exactly pop into the kitchen to have a look either

Was always Ndovu for me

you could start with something i found referenced that seems quite general:

>pilau masala – a unique mix of black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and cumin used in many rice and stew recipes.

tasteoftanzania.com/blog/about/

...

also i remember going to this restaurant called 'indoitaliano' which was an unlikely mix of curry and pizza, but it was fucking delicious as far as i remember. we used to pile eight of us into a tiny cab that would scrape along the ground after we left with full stomachs

Thanks, I saw that site and book. It seems to offer the more lively and extravagant dishes. I wanted to replicate the simple every day local lunch food.

Konyagi was the shit

Just make beans and veg? Seems pretty basic desu.

pls tell us what this all is.

I've tried to mimic it at home. Thanks for the coconut milk tip, now that I think back to it it's a pretty obvious taste.
I just really want to nail the sauces and stews. Was hoping someone had picked up something from locals or cooked and lived there.

Sorry, just reread your post, I thought you were telling me to try making pilau.
I'll give those spices a go!

No clue man, random food from the bus station. Tasty as shit and probably the best meal I had in Tanzania.

When I boil my beans I always toss in 2 cloves of garlic and a whole onion.

Dude this looks like it's from a prison canteen

Well, it is served on street corners in Africa. Tastes great though.

Had a tanzanian exchange student as a dorm mate. It seemed he spent like half his free time making chapati, shit was good though.