Rwandan Beef Stew with Ugali and Plantains

This recipe holds a very special place in my heart. Back in 2014, my husband Dave and I visited Rwanda as part of our honeymoon and it turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of our lives.

A friend of mine from university, Becky, had travelled to Rwanda some years earlier and met a man named Evode, who was quietly doing extraordinary work with local street children. Becky helped formalise his work into a charity called Ubaka U Rwanda, which now rents a house and provides a home, shelter and education for up to 30 boys.

I had been a trustee of the charity since 2011, supporting them from the UK, so when Dave and I planned our honeymoon, visiting the boys in person felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Meeting those boys was a fascinating experience. Despite having such difficult pasts, they were so full of life and enthusiasm. What touched me most was how grateful they were for things that many of us in the West take for granted. One boy told me that when he was 7 years old and living on the street, he never imagined he would ever go back to school. He was 16 when we met him, and attending secondary school.

They invited us for dinner and we were honoured to accept. We had Ugali, a thick maize porridge a little like polenta, with a bean and eggplant stew. The boys taught us how to eat it the traditional way: you roll the Ugali into a small ball with your hands, press a little dent into it, and use it to scoop up the stew. It was absolutely delicious.