Local Dishes

1. Amatooke

   Amatooke (steamed and mashed green cooking banana)

   Usage

   The staple regarded as Uganda's national food. lg.wikipedia says the green fruit is harvested, carefully peeled, then boiled or steamed and mashed over firewood. In Buganda it is called amatooke (the form used here), and it is eaten with a sauce (enva) or meat

   Grammar Note

   The plant is ekitooke, the fruit ettooke and the dish matooke / amatooke. The Buganda form is amatooke (lg.wikipedia); the food card "Matooke" is the same word without the augment. The article title is "Matoke".

2. Luwombo

   Luwombo (stew steamed in a banana-leaf parcel)

   Usage

   A traditional Ganda dish. lg.wikipedia says it is cooked in banana leaves and was first prepared for the kings and princes of Buganda. There are chicken, beef, fish and groundnut versions

   Grammar Note

   Also written Oluwombo; the plural is Mpombo / Empombo (lg.wikipedia). The filling is named before it, as in "enkoko Luwombo" (chicken luwombo).

3. Rolex

   Rolex (egg-and-vegetable omelette rolled in chapati)

   Usage

   Uganda's best-known street food: a vegetable omelette rolled in chapati. The name comes from "rolled eggs" and has nothing to do with the watch. lg.wikipedia says it began in Busoga in the east

   Grammar Note

   A loan name that stayed unchanged. lg.wikipedia quotes the joke "Wano tetwambala rolex, tugirya" (here we do not wear a rolex, we eat it).

4. Katogo

   Katogo (a cooked-together breakfast dish)

   Usage

   A staple Ugandan breakfast. lg.wikipedia says it is a mix of foods cooked together; the best-known version cooks matooke with beef, offal, beans or groundnuts

   Grammar Note

   The lg.wikipedia article is titled "Katogo (emmere)". emmere means food and ekyenkya means breakfast.

5. Kikomando

   Kikomando (chopped chapati served with beans)

   Usage

   A cheap street staple of chopped chapati with beans. lg.wikipedia says it began in the early 2000s and is popular with university students because it is inexpensive

   Grammar Note

   The article text also writes Ekikomando. It explains that the name comes from a song about the dish by Bobi Wine (evoking English "commando").

6. Nsenene

   Nsenene (seasonal edible grasshoppers)

   Usage

   The Luganda name of the edible grasshopper. lg.wikipedia says it is widely eaten in central and south-western Uganda. A seasonal street snack, usually sold fried. It is also a Ganda clan totem (omuziro), so some people do not eat it

   Grammar Note

   The lg.wikipedia article is titled Nsenene. The dictionary spells it enseenene, but running text mostly uses nsenene, so the title form is used. "Sold fried" is general knowledge.

7. Firinda

   Firinda (a bean-based sauce)

   Usage

   A sauce made from peeled, crushed beans. lg.wikipedia says it comes from the Batooro, Banyoro and Bakonzo of the west and is a welcoming dish served at events such as traditional marriages

   Grammar Note

   lg.wikipedia presents it as a kind of enva (sauce, relish). It adds that it is known as Madakwa on the Congolese side.

8. Malewa

   Malewa (dried bamboo shoots)

   Usage

   Bamboo shoots dried for keeping, from the area around Mount Elgon (Bududa, Sironko, Mbale). A traditional eastern Ugandan food

   Grammar Note

   lg.wikipedia explains it as "mabanda agakaliriddwa" (dried bamboo shoots). The word mabanda is only found in that article, not in the dictionary.

9. Dek Ngor

   Dek Ngor (a northern vegetable sauce of the Acholi)

   Usage

   A traditional vegetable sauce of the Acholi in the north. lg.wikipedia says it is also eaten in the Lango and West Nile areas. The Acholi name is used as it is

   Grammar Note

   Not a Luganda word but the Acholi name of the dish. lg.wikipedia also lists the variants Dek-ngor, Dek Ngoo and Agira.

10. Akawunga

    Akawunga (stiff maize-flour porridge, "posho")

    Usage

    A stiff maize-flour porridge widely known as posho. lg.wikipedia says "akawunga ka kasooli akamanyikiddwa ennyo nga posho" (maize flour widely known as posho)

    Grammar Note

    kasooli is maize. The prefix aka- looks like a diminutive, but the word formation has not been verified.

11. Mandazi

    Mandazi (fried dough)

    Usage

    A kind of fried bread. lg.wikipedia says it comes from the Swahili-speaking coast, but it is also widely eaten in Uganda at breakfast and with tea. The plural is amandazi

    Grammar Note

    A Swahili loan. lg.wikipedia says "Amandazi gatera okuliibwa ne caayi" (amandazi are often eaten with tea).

12. Chapati

    Chapati (flatbread)

    Usage

    The flatbread that rolex and kikomando are built on. lg.wikipedia describes chapati as a kind of long flat bread and says Uganda's version is made with soft wheat

    Grammar Note

    A loanword in its English spelling. Bread is omugaati in Luganda, but chapati is used as a separate word.

13. Ebinyeebwa

    Ebinyeebwa (groundnuts)

    Usage

    Groundnuts (peanuts). lg.wikipedia says they are mostly taken as enva (a relish), and they go into sauces and katogo

    Grammar Note

    The article title is Ebinyeebwa, but the spelling varies: ebinyebwa in its text and ebinyoobwa / ebinywebwa in the dictionary. ebi- is the plural class prefix.

14. Mukene

    Mukene (small Lake Victoria fish)

    Usage

    A small fish caught in Lake Victoria. The lg.wikipedia article on Nnalubaale lists it among the lake's fish. It is often sold dried

    Grammar Note

    The dictionary spells it omukene (in its list of fish names); the form mukene from lg.wikipedia is used. "Often sold dried" is general knowledge, not confirmed in lg sources.

15. Emmamba

    Emmamba (lungfish)

    Usage

    A large freshwater lungfish caught in Lake Victoria. The dictionary gives it for "lungfish" and lg.wikipedia lists it among the lake's fish

    Grammar Note

    In the dictionary, lungfish = emmamba. Fish in general is ekyennyanja (dictionary).

16. Lumonde

    Lumonde (sweet potato)

    Usage

    A root eaten steamed or boiled. The dictionary gives potato = lumonde, and lg.wikipedia lists it among the staple food crops

    Grammar Note

    A lu- class noun. The dictionary lists the two forms lumonde / lumonge. lg.wikipedia also has an entry "Lumonde awusse" (over-ripe sweet potato).

17. Kasooli

    Kasooli (maize)

    Usage

    Maize. Milled into akawunga (posho); lg.wikipedia mentions it often as a widely grown crop

    Grammar Note

    The dictionary gives maize = kasooli, and dried maize as emberenge.

18. Enva

    Enva (sauce or relish eaten with the staple)

    Usage

    The general word for the sauce or relish eaten with a staple (matooke, akawunga, lumonde). It can be made from beans, greens, meat or fish

    Grammar Note

    The dictionary gives sauce = enva and relish = enva, eky'okuliira. Vegetables are "enva endiirwa" (edible enva) in Wikivoyage and lg.wikipedia.

Browse all TravelPhrases languages