May is for Mexican

Braving the City Market butchery to make carnitas

For anyone with two eyes and an empty stomach, it’s obvious that Nairobi has become a kind of micro-heaven for greedy foodies with multicultural appetites. I spent the past year wandering the streets growing fatter by the meal, but as the days passed, like so many samosas down my gullet, I became increasingly aware of one massive, gaping hole in the Nairobi menu: Mexican food.

I did find pretenders in this city. Certain “coffeehuts” serve dishes resembling burritos and quesadillas, but the simple fact remained: if I wanted Mexican in Nairobi, I would have to make it myself.

And for me, that means one thing: carnitas – little fried tacos filled with crispy shredded pork. They are simply the best things to come out of Mexico since tequila (more on that later). After exhausting Westlands’ menus, I knew I had to bring a little Mexico into my sufuria.

My journey began in the bowels of Nairobi City Market—yes, that city market: the concrete pyramid, just across from Florida nightclub, where men in bloodstained lab coats constantly run in and out. I tried to stomach the place once or twice before, but never got past the rusty trucks parked in front and labeled “meat.” However, the call of the carnitas was enough to finally get me inside.

The pork stalls are on the Moi Avenue side and clearly marked by whole pigs hanging on hooks. I would imagine the prices at the City Market vary from person to person (read: Mzungu/local) but all-in-all, it’s dirt cheap compared to your average megamatt.

For the carnitas, I needed about two kilos of pork shoulder, bone-in. At the end of the usual haggling, the woman at the register stuffed my 800 bob into her ample bosom and the deal was done. That’s the most difficult part of making carnitas: braving the sights and smells of the City Market.

After that, your stove (and your hungry roommates) do most of the work. To prepare the carnitas, remove the skin and excess fat from the pork shoulder. Put it in a large pot and just cover with water. Toss in your salt, peppercorns, oregano, chopped white onion, tomato paste, cumin, coriander, chilli, bay leaves and chicken bouillon cube.

Take two oranges and remove the skin with a knife (instead of peeling). Make sure all the white bits are removed otherwise they will add a bitter flavor to the broth. Chop the oranges and toss them in the pot. Then take your tequila, take one sip, and add a large dash to the pot.

Bring that to a boil, then put your heat to low (as low as possible) and leave on the stove to simmer for 3-3.5 hours, until the meat is fork-tender and the bone can be simply pulled out.

The other essential component of good carnitas is a proper tortilla. These are also fairly simple to make, but should not be confused with butter-filled chapattis. Most online recipe sites can point you in the right direction. Once your pork shoulder has cooked, remove it from the broth (keep the broth) and cut up into 1-2 inch pieces.

Place the pieces onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with a bit of oil, salt and pepper (to taste). Stick the sheet into a hot oven (on the highest setting) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pork chunks begin to crisp around the edges. Remove the pork from the oven, chop thoroughly into small pieces and pour a bit of broth on top.

When you’re just about ready to eat, throw the tortillas onto a nonstick pan on medium-high heat until bubbles and brown spots appear on each side. Combine carnitas with tortillas and serve to your freeloading friends. One bite and you’ll feel like Christopher Columbus discovering a new world. And you’ll never go to any coffee-huts again for so-called burritos.

If one is feeling especially ambitious, carnitas can be served with salsas. I won’t go into this but most Mexican salsas involve combinations of corn, tomatoes, dhania, onions, lime, chilli, avocado, black beans, salt, pepper and cumin powder and garlic. Kachumbari is actually a pretty solid option for the salsa.

If you have leftover tequila, you know what to do.