Posho

Posho is a stiff porridge of maize meal and water, cooked until it is firm enough to be pinched and eaten by hand. It is a staple food in Uganda and is also eaten in Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan. In Kenya and Tanzania the same kind of maize porridge is usually called ugali, so a guest who asks for one may mean the other.

What it really is

Maize meal is stirred into boiling salted water a little at a time, then cooked and stirred over the heat until the mixture thickens into a dense, smooth paste that holds its shape. It has little flavour of its own, and that is the point: it is the starch that carries the stew or greens eaten with it. The recipe uses only maize meal, water and salt, so it contains no wheat, milk, egg or nuts.

How it's served

• Hot, shaped into a mound or small balls on a plate.
• Eaten by hand: a piece is pinched off, pressed into the stew or greens, and then eaten.
• Alongside a stew of beans, meat or fish, or with cooked greens.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the main ingredient as maize meal, also called cornmeal, and say whether it is white or yellow maize.
• Declare no allergens for the porridge itself, but say if a flour from another grain is mixed in, because that would add a cereal to the list.
• Name the stew or greens it is served with and declare that dish's allergens separately. Plain posho is vegan, but a meat, fish or groundnut stew served with it is not, and it changes the allergen list.
• State the portion and whether it is served alone or as part of a set plate.