Resource Materials  (1)  

Recipes for use with fuel-less cookers                   cookers      

Text Box: Site Map Text Box: Cooking Baskets & Hay Boxes – Fuel-less cookers which help you to save fuel & water when you cook your food. A Cooking Basket (or a Hay Box) is an insulated container which can save up to 70% of the fuel that is usually needed for cooking. It can also reduce the amount of water that is needed for cooking, too, especially beans, peas & lentils which need a long time & a lot of water to cook on the normal fire or cooking stove. Just bring the food to a boil on your normal fire or cooking stove, then make sure the lid is securely on the pot, carefully wrap the pot in the cloth and place the pot inside the Cooking Basket. As soon as you have done this, cover the pot & the top of the basket with a cushion — making sure that you don’t leave any gaps. The Cooking Basket will hold the heat in the food so that it will continue cooking without using extra fuel. You can cook beans and peas or lentils in the cooking basket first before adding them to other ingredients, because some beans must be boiled for at least 10 to 15 minutes to make them safe to eat. Guide to Cooking times:  Pasta (macaroni or spaghetti) can be cooked in the Cooking Basket, too. Boil it for 5 minutes, then leave it in the Cooking Basket for 20 minutes. After this, carefully drain the water & then the pasta is ready to eat. You can also add a little pasta to your soup or stew, like in the recipe below. The Cooking Basket will help to keep your food warm for up to 4 to 6 hours, so you can prepare your meal in the morning & eat it later in the day. SOME TASTY RECIPES FOR USE WITH A COOKING BASKET/FOOD WARMER Spicy vegetable stew (makes about 4 or 5 medium-sized bowls of soup/stew) Ingredients 1 medium-sized potato, peeled & cut into cubes 1 carrot, peeled & cut into rings 1 medium sized onion, peeled & chopped 1 tomato, chopped (If you have them & want to use them, it is also possible to add some cooked beans, maize or peas, or a little chopped sukuma wiki or cabbage.) 1 cup of cleaned, washed, uncooked rice (or 2 cups of uncooked pasta) 1 large spoonful of mchuzi mix (or 1 stock cube, or curry masala) 1 litre water (you can add more water if you want, to make it more like a soup) Salt to taste 1 large spoonful of oil What to do 1) Place the oil in the sufria (a saucepan without handles) & heat this gently on the jiko (stove or fire). 2) Put in the chopped onions & cook them in the hot oil until they are soft. 3) Then add the chopped carrot & potato & stir them together —do this with the sufria on the heat of the fire (or jiko, or stove) for about two or three minutes. 4) Then add the chopped tomato & chopped sukuma wiki (spinach or cabbage), stir these together with other ingredients. 5) Then add the water to the sufria & cover again with the lid. 6) Raise the heat on the fire & bring the stew to the boil. 7) When it starts to boil, remove the lid & add the uncooked rice or pasta & stir once or twice to stop them sticking. 8) Then add Mchuzi mix or curry masala & stir once or twice. 10) Put the lid back on top of the sufria (saucepan) & reduce the heat on the fire (or jiko, or stove). 11) Leave the stew to cook gently on the fire (or jiko, or stove) for a further 10 minutes (or 20 minutes if you are using meat as well as the vegetables). 12) When you have done this, stir it once, then carefully remove the hot, covered sufria from the fire (or jiko, or stove), wrap it in the cloth and carefully place the sufria inside the cooking basket. 13) Make sure that the sufria is still properly covered with its lid. 14) Then place the cushion on top of the sufria in order to carefully cover & close the cooking basket. 15) Leave the cooking basket in a safe place to continue cooking the stew for about 2 hours or more. After this, the stew is ready to eat. The cooking/warming basket will keep the food warm for up to 4 hours or so. Spicy lamb or goat stew (makes about 4-5 medium-sized bowls of stew) Ingredients 1/2kg boneless lamb, goat or beef, cut into small cubes 1 medium size onion, peeled & chopped 1 carrot, peeled & cut into rings 1 tomato, chopped 1 large spoonful of masala (a mixture of ginger, coriander & cinnamon), or madras curry, or Mchuzi Mix, 1 cup of cleaned, washed, uncooked rice 1 litre water Salt to taste A spoonful of oil (If you want, you can also add 1 good handful of dried prunes & 1 good handful of dried apricots (remove the stones & cut the dried fruit in half) to the stew. (Alternatively, if you prefer, you can add a little grated coconut & chopped plantain to the stew instead). What to do 1) Place the oil in the sufria (a saucepan without handles) & heat this gently on the jiko (stove or fire). 2) Put in the chopped onions & cook them in the hot oil until they are soft. 3) Add the small cubes of lamb, goat or beef meat to the onions in the sufria. 4) Stir the meat & the onions gently over the heat until the meat has gone brown on the outside. 5) Then add the chopped carrot & potato & stir them together —do this with the sufria on the heat of the fire (or jiko, or stove) for about two or three minutes. 6) Then add the dried fruit (or the coconut & plantain) to the meat & vegetables in the sufria. 7) Add the water & stir the mixture together. Put the lid back on the sufria. 8) Raise the heat on the fire & bring the soup/stew to the boil. 9) When it starts to boil, remove the lid & add the uncooked rice & stir once or twice to stop it sticking. 10)Then add Mchuzi mix or curry masala & stir once or twice. 11) Put the lid back on top of the sufria (saucepan) & reduce the heat on the fire (or jiko, or stove). 12) Leave the stew to cook gently on the fire or jiko for a further 15-20 minutes. 13) After you have done this, stir it once, then carefully remove the hot, covered sufria from the jiko, stove or fire), wrap it in the cloth and carefully place the sufria inside the cooking basket. 14) Make sure that the sufria (saucepan) is still properly covered with its lid. 15) Then place the cushion on top of the sufria in order to carefully cover & close the cooking basket. 16) Leave the cooking basket in a safe place to continue cooking the stew for about 3-4 hours (or longer if you want or need). 17) After this, the stew is ready to eat. The cooking/warming basket will keep the food warm for up to 4 hours or so. The following two recipes for cooking rice & beans have kindly been sent by Thomas & Lispah, at Mwamba Field Study Centre & Bird Observatory, at Watamu. BEANS Sort out the beans and clean them. Boil them in normal fire for about 30—45 mins adding water as required. Remove from the fire and place them into the fireless-cooker (cooking/food-warming basket), Beans will take about 4—5 hours to be ready . For cooking beans it needs earlier planning for it takes long time. *It’s advisable to soak beans or other cereals for overnight as this reduces the time for cooking them (*NB. If you soak the beans in clean water overnight before boiling them the next day, you can reduce the boiling time to 30 mins followed by around 2 hours in the Cooking Basket. Please also make sure that your cooking pot is covered by a lid before you place it into the Cooking Basket. Elizabeth.) RICE Sort the rice and wash it. Put into the normal fire and as soon it starts to boil put it into the fireless-cooker (cooking/food-warming basket), this takes  30 minutes to get ready.” Contributed by Thomas & Lispah, ,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,. Mwamba Field Study Centre & Bird Observatory A Rocha Kenya PO Box 383 Watamu, 80202 Kenya tel: +254-(0)42-32023 eml: mwamba@arocha.org website: www.arocha.org   also: www.assets-kenya.org Putting a 'sufria' of rice in the fireless-cooker(cooking/food-warming basket) to finish cooking.

Cooking/Foodwarming Basket (fuel-less cooker) & local energy-saving  stove or ‘jiko’.

Text Box: CCI-Kenya has now also set up a new dedicated website called ‘Cooking in a Basket’ where you can find lots more useful information on how to make and use a Cooking Basket or Hay Sack, plus Kenyan recipes for Githere, Pilau, Njahi, Mataha and African Peanut Soup as well as stews and casseroles from the west. Below you will find a couple of tasty, tried & tested recipes using ingredients such as potatoes, onions, carrots, tomatoes, sukuma wiki (cabbage), pasta, goat, lamb & beef, as well as a couple of recipes for cooking beans and rice. Please let us know what you think of these & also send us some simple recipes of your own which we can share both here & on the new website. Text Box: Similar to the old-fashioned ‘HAY BOX’ idea used in the past by many grandmothers in the West, the cooking/foodwarming basket is a great way to help save fuel, water & money wherever you happen to live - whether it’s in a rain-forest, semi-arid area, town or city, anywhere in the world. Together we can save water, firewood, charcoal, kerosene, gas & electricity, & help to save our natural environment.
CCI-Kenya Resource Materials (1). Recipes for use with fuel-less cookers

The following are some interesting websites about the use of fuel-less cookers (cooking baskets & solar cookers) in Kenya & other parts of the world.

http://www.cookinginabasket.blogspot.com

http://www.repp.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/Design/haybox.html

http://tilz.tearfund.org/Publications/Footsteps+11-20/Footsteps+16/Cooking+without+fuel.htm

Last Updated: 14/05/08