Kawal (food)
Kawal is food made of
It has a pungent odor which persists on the hands; it is said that "when you eat [kawal] with your right hand, you smell it on your left." For this reason, the elite of Sudan consider it a low-status food. In spite of this, kawal has spread across Sudan, possibly due to the plant's ability to grow vigorously in a variety of environments.[3]
Similar fermented meat substitutes found in this region include
Preparation
To prepare kawal, C. obtusifolia leaves are harvested during the plant's fruiting and flowering stage, which corresponds to the rainy season of Western Sudan. The leaves are then cleaned and pounded into a paste, which is packed inside a
Like furundu and sigda, kawal serves as a flavoring in Sudanese foods typically flavored with meat. Specifically, its unique odor is similar to the most common type of meat used in this region, sun-dried strips of jerky called shermute. This is as opposed to fermented foods like rob-heb, made with fermented watermelon seeds, and rob-ful, made with fermented peanuts, which serve as substitutes for stews flavored with soured milk such as mulah-rob, a soured milk and lamb stew.[5]
A common preparation of kawal is as a substitute for powdered shermute in a stew of onions, dried okra powder, oil, salt, and pepper, accompanied with a sorghum porridge. Among the Fur people, kawal is known as a nutritious food comparable to meat. The Nuba people make soup with kawal and bone broth. In cities where meat can be found more easily, powdered kawal is used as a condiment similar to black pepper.[3]
Nutrition
Kawal is approximately 20 percent protein by weight.[6] It has a high content of potassium and calcium.[2]
Research
There has been research into kawal's potential as an accessible protein source in areas with protein shortages.[3][1] The microbiota involved in its fermentation have also been analyzed and quantified.[2]
See also
Citations
- ^ a b c Foods, National Research Council (US) Panel on the Applications of Biotechnology to Traditional Fermented (1992), "Leaf and Seed Fermentations of Western Sudan", Applications of Biotechnology to Fermented Foods: Report of an Ad Hoc Panel of the Board on Science and Technology for International Development, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2023-07-26
- ^ ISSN 1684-5315.)
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: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link - ^ S2CID 32446384.
- S2CID 234467515.
- ^ a b c "Sudan's Fermented Food Heritage| Sudanow Magazine". sudanow-magazine.net. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-351-44251-0.