Spaghetti Night

Yesterday I went to my Rwandan families’ house for dinner as usual but I went earlier than normal. And so they sat me down and then just left me for 2 hours. Therefore I got to watch the umucozi cook the meal. First she lit the charcoal stove and let the fire grow. Once the fire was a descent size a pot of water was placed on top to boil. When the water boiled it was moved to a plastic jug. Now the pot is empty and oil is added to cover about ½ in the bottom (way too much oil in my professional opinion). Anyway the oil sizzles and a small amount of red onions are added. A small amount of tomato paste is added, like about 3 heaping tablespoons (not nearly enough for an american“tomato sauce”). Then an entire bag of spaghetti, broken into 3 parts is added and stirred. (Keep in mind there is no water in the pot just oil, onions, and tomato paste with the pasta. In about 5 minutes they decide water is an important factor and the boiling water that was poured into the plastic jug earlier is now added to the pasta. Then it’s left to cook. For the “salad” the umucozi cut up white onions into tiny slices and added a ton of vinegar and sugar. And there you have salad to go with your spaghetti and sauce. (It was not too great but I ate it out of politeness. Surprisingly the noodles were pretty good though I’m sure my standards have dropped dramatically from living here. And that was my night of watching the umucozi cook at my Rwandan families’ home.