Saturday 3 February 2018

A local delicacy fresh beef liver ‘Msalato Mnadani’


By +Caroline Anande Uliwa


'Kwa Chales' stall at Msalato Mnadani in Dodoma
Where do you feel the cosmos of a city, the stamp of its feet, the rustle of its conversation? Perhaps where it’s citizens gather to enjoy a public eat out. Here the meagre settings of  caramel dust, plastic sheets mounted on thin sticks to provide shade over simple plastic chairs. Don’t underscore the excitement of the occasion as delicious scents of sizzling barbecue invite you in.

Recently I was fortunate to visit a huge barbecue at ‘Msalato Mnadani’ in Dodoma, Tanzania. The  place is known for its proximity to a big slaughter house in the city.  Where every Saturday a public market is hosted, which mainly dishes barbecued beef & goat. You actually see droves of fresh slaughtered pieces of goat, cow even game meat brought in wheel burrows, then hung ready to be barbecued right in front of your eyes.

Wasafi's stall at Msalato Mnadani market in Dodoma
“At the slaughter house first we place it on nets to sieve off the blood. Then we bring it here to hang it, so it further dries before we marinate and place it on the burners…” Jackson Patiani among the chefs with a stall at  ‘Msalato Mnadani’, telling me a bit the process of his craft, where I learned he has been doing this for some 20 years now.

Dodoma not being my resident city, I was delighted at every detail in this market. Like the fact that residents of Dodoma love their meat. Unlike my home city, their food vendor stalls don’t offer minuscule portions of chicken and ‘mshikaki’, here you find goat limbs & chunks of beef ribs at every stall.

Our plate of fresh beef liver with slices of 'pilipili mbuzi'
-local chili, lemon & salt
It was time to chow down some of this meat, I was here with family and we ordered take out. However we just couldn’t resist sampling something at the scene despite it being 11 am. Which is how I came to taste for the first time in my life, a plate of fresh barbecued beef liver. 

I mean, I mean, you have to try it for yourself. The fact that the liver was fresh, added to its flavour plus barbecuing it. Ensured on the outside it was all held in place so it didn’t crumble into a gooey mess, yet the insides of it was still soft. With the simple marinate of lemon & salt with splashes of the local chilly ‘pilipili mbuzi’, our plate was finished in less than 5 minutes. 
The seating areas where customers
enjoy local brews as well as the food
Later on when we sat at home to enjoy our take out from Msalato, which was a healthy portion of barbecued goat. We learned a valuable lesson about buying meat at this market, which is to sample what you’re buying before paying up. Heck maybe we should have gotten the meat from Mr Patiani’s stall, what with his decades of experience. However I met him later on, our meat was tough & chewy not the way you want to eat goat barbecue.

Still this hasn’t made me think less of the place, if anything next time I am in Dodoma, I will certainly make my way here. The trick is to take your time and not be bamboozled by the hisses & calls from the chefs at each stall. 

Spikes where meat from the slaughter
is hung at the Msalato Mnadani
market ready for barbecue
Msalato Mnadani market gained popularity after the closing of it’s neighbouring  seasonal market ‘Maili Mbili’ in 2015. Since then it has become somewhat of a tourist attraction with it’s assortment of open barbecues.  It opens every Saturday from late morning to night fall, the city authorities encourages the business as it employs many youths.

 “After the veterinary officers certify the meat we select then buy the meat. For every cow we pay 12,000Tshs  & 4,000 for goat as tax…I am very happy with the turn out this season. Normally by this time you wouldn’t see this many people but as you can see it’s a good turn out, which means by night fall it’ll be quite hectic.” Amani Kudei, another vendor at Msalato sharing with us, how local government works with them to keep this business safe for it’s residents.

Despite Dodoma’s semi desert climate this market showed me the robust of its residents, be sure to drop by when in Dodoma.


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