Ah smocha again, Kenyan street food at its best. Smocha is a mini-burrito consisting of a smokie with kachumbari all wrapped with a chapati. The chapati acts like a tortilla wrap, kachumbari is a salsa salad, and the smokie is a smoked sausage.
Let’s rip the band-aid off, street foods made at home will never be a match with what is in the street. There’s a reason they are called “street foods”, they belong to the streets. Trying to replicate them is not usually a success, but doesn’t hurt to try
Ssshhh, we just confuse the smocha gods that we are the street vendors so that they can unleash maximum buss and flavor. How do we even do that? Easy, just pull out your trusty apron or white lab coat from your chemistry lab, and open the windows for some little dust garnish, jk
Here we’ll document different variations that I have seen and tried out then give my judgment on each. Somehow “everyone’s getting creative” The variations are just in the filling choices. Hang on, there’s even a ‘group of schools’ smocha in this post for the cool kids.
Types of Smochas
These are just made-up names for distinguishing smocha on the basis of ingredients (for this article) and aren’t actual names used out there
1. Classic Smocha
We start simple, the ordinary smocha nothing fancy, no extra add-ons, just smocha the way the universe intended it to be. Chapati, Kachumbari, and a Smokie. That is it, then sauces; choma sauce or tomato sauce, you can use both sauces. (Step-by-step guide with images just below)
2. Omelette Smocha
Here we get a little fancy, we pack more protein into the wrap by making an omelet and lining it perfectly with the chapati, and then we proceed with ingredients as above.
3. Boiled eggs Smocha
Boiled eggs are sold in the street too as mayai pasua, so why not dice those up to add more texture to our smocha? It’s not like we have a smocha police so we proceed. Just like in the classic procedure, after adding your kachumbari, then cut a boiled egg into bite-sized dice then spread it all over before finishing to wrap.
4. Avocado Smocha
Just like in the boiled egg variation above, but instead, we are using avocado here. I love avocado so this one is so good it tickles the throat
5. “Group of Schools Smocha“
Now I’m stuck between describing this as supreme or deluxe or ultimate. You choose! So here we go extra and fancy in terms of how we make our kachumbari, sauces of choice, and other add-ons
Let’s start with the kachumbari, dice up your onions and soak them in white vinegar to remove the raw taste and smell of onions. A group of school smocha shouldn’t make your mouth smell like onions all day, come on.
Still, on the kachumbari, drain your vinegar after 10 minutes. Dice one large tomato that is not overly ripe, just ripe but firm. Dice into small pieces, razer thin if possible, and add these to your onions. Next, chop up fresh coriander or parsley for the taste of Shrek or Hulk, toss everything, or use a salad spinner( you are too cool to be missing this ). Next, we salt our kachumbari and crack fresh black pepper, then add 1tbs of extra virgin olive oil then combine. Now that is some top-tier tier Kachumbari
Smokies, if they’re frozen defrost them first, boil them in hot water on low heat till soft and plump, then dry them and grill them till done to your liking. Grill marks are appetizing. You can shallow fry them in a pan if you wish
For the sauces, tomato, chili, and choma sauces are for the normies, in a group of schools, they use ketchup, hot sauce, and barbecue sauce instead. Plus who said you were only substituting sauces? Add yellow mustard too! You can either add all sauces individually or combine them all with mayo to form one thick sauce, use 2 tbs of mayo in that case.
Hmm, cheese as a cool person, you probably add cheese to everything, melt some cheddar and drizzle all on top, or just add a cheddar slice and after wrapping, bake it all to melt the cheese
How to Make a Classic Smocha: Step by Step
Make the kachumbari salad by washing the ingredients clean and dicing 1 small onion and one large tomato, combining till everything is evenly distributed. Add chopped chilies if you love the heat, salt, and pepper to your liking, and mix further till flavors are homogeneous. Optionally add freshly chopped dhania.
Boil your smokie in ocean water (salted water) till tender drain and shallow fry to your liking, slice the sausage along the length to halves; don’t slice all the way through, just enough to separate into halves. You can use two smokies if you want maximum content. Line your smokie on the chapati wrap, centered in the middle.
Fill your kachumbari on the sliced smokie, go crazy, and top extra, add more kachumbari on the side as well. Go extra to ensure the smokie is all covered and everything evenly distributed for consistency in each bite. If you were adding sliced boiled eggs or avocados, add them at this stage.
Now sauce time, add your favorite sauces just simple tomato sauce will do but add anything you want, as discussed above. However, if using mustard add it last. If you wanna add cheese add it at this stage.
Now that our smokie is loaded, time to lock it pal, start by pulling two opposite sides inwards as shown below, hold firmly, and roll the longer side against itself. Roll till done and the last point of contact to be face down. The weight helps your creation not to roll out. If you use cheese then this will be the least of your worries as the melted gooey cheese will be your trusty glue and hold everything.
Make sure your smocha is wrapped tightly and has no leaks, remember kids; if it is not tight, it is not right
Cut your smocha into halves and share, personally, I wouldn’t share some things and this is not an exception🗿
Serving
Smocha on the street marries well with freshly blended juices, can’t go wrong with any passion, mango, orange, or apple you name it. If your smocha is loaded with sauces and saucy enough, then you won’t necessarily need a drink.
Smocha Locations
You scour the streets and find the best smocha, especially at food stalls near campuses. The best smocha I have ever had was at Club 36 in UoN, famously known as Klabu or Klabuu.
Jkuat in Juja has somewhat decent smochas too, and so does USIU; remember regardless of the location tastes will vary from vendor to vendor, and you will always find your one go-to vendor commonly known as smocha plugs
Nutritional Information
Amount per serving (one smocha, no sauces)
Calories 297
% Daily Value* Total Fat 17.9g 23% Saturated Fat 7.1g 36% Cholesterol 40mg 13% Sodium 528mg 23% Total Carbohydrate 25.4g 9% Dietary Fiber 4.6g 16% Total Sugars 8.5g Protein 10.1g
Disclaimer
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and may vary based on ingredients, cooking methodology, and quantities used. This should only be used for informational purposes and not for dietary advice.
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
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