Cooking with Jojo

by Feb 10, 2022Observations0 comments

“Where are you?” I heard jojos small voice call me out.

“I am here” I replied.
He walked from the balcony to the kitchen where I was standing. I had just put the flour in a big bowl and was using the whisk to mix the flour with a mixture of warm water with a pinch of salt and sugar.

It was a long looong time since I had made chapati. To say the truth, it was decades since I made them. To my defense; Who makes chapati for one? Not me! And at home, my brother kevo is the chapati master. He makes them really round, soft and layered! You can literally pull the paper thin layers apart. Two of his chapatis and a plate of beans (chapati dondo) will make you tell your innermost secrets.

Jojo pushed the kitchen stool to where I was standing, he climbed up and leaned towards the bowl so he could have a better view of what I was doing.
“What you doing?” He asked and looked at me with expectation.
“I am making chapati”, I answered.
“Papati?” He asked.

Photo by: Shine Photos on unsplash

“Yes!” I nodded.
He was already putting his small hands in the mix when I said “no Jojo!”
“I help!” He replied and looked at me pleadingly.

“Then go wash your hands and dry them properly. “

“Okay” he answered and ran to the bathroom.
He came back after about 2 mins and said, “I clean!”
By this time I had added enough water and flour to the mix and it had become a good soft dough.
I gave him a piece and asked him to knead it. “I make it long!” He said happily as he rolled the dough betwen his two small hands.
I added the grated carrots and enough oil to the dough, kneaded it throroughly and put it to rest.

“du! du! ke!, du! du! kee!,” Jojo and I were dancing and singing at the top of our lungs to the chorus of SimiĀ“s song with the same title: Duduke! After about thirty minutes the dough was ready and I informed him that the dough was ready to be rolled out.
“I help!” He said. “Okay” I replied.
I parted the dough into smaller pieces made them into round balls and floured the rolling mat. I put the smaller dough pieces in the middle and showed him how to roll it out.
Standing on the stool with a rolling pin in his hands and flour all over his t-shirt, he rolled twice on the dough and waited for me to turn it. Good job! well done! I praised him after every roll and I could see that he was bursting with joy. I fried the chapatis and together with the lentils sauce we had a very delicious dinner.

Cooking with children might take a little bit more time, patience and a little more of having to keep an extra eye on them, but the curiousity and enthusiam of the children is worth the sacrifice. Furthermore, a guy who can cook definitely has some bonus point, therefore better start early than never!

By Nessa.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *