Mutura

Ingredients

Casings

• 1 kggoat or beef large intestine
• coarse salt
• plain flour
• lemon or vinegar

Filling

• 600 gminced goat or beef
• 300 goffal: liver, lung and heart, finely chopped
• 400 mlfresh blood
• 1onion, finely chopped
• 4spring onions
• 1 bunchcoriander, chopped
• 3 clovesgarlic
• 2chillies, chopped

Seasoning

• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground coriander
• 1 tsppaprika
• 150 gcooked rice or 100 ml water

To serve

• kachumbari, tomato and onion salad
• ukwaju or lemon
• coarse salt and chilli

Directions

1. Turn the intestines inside out by pushing one end back on itself and running water through. Turning them is not optional, because the inner surface is the one that needs cleaning.
2. Turn them back the right way out and check for tears. Chop the offal finely and mix it with the mince, onion, spring onion, coriander, garlic, chilli and all the spices.
3. Stir in the cooked rice, which many street cooks add to bulk it out and to hold the mixture together. Strain the blood and mean it, because a clot becomes a hard dark lump in the finished sausage.
4. Fry a spoonful of the mixture and taste it before you fill anything. Tasting a test spoonful is the only way to season a raw mixture, and it takes a minute.
5. Fill the casings using a funnel, and fill them loosely. Fill them no more than two-thirds. Tie off both ends with string and prick each length several times with a needle. Poach the sausages in water held at a bare simmer, around 80°C (175°F), for 45 minutes to an hour. Never let the water boil.
6. Lift them out and let them cool and dry a little. Now grill them over hot charcoal, turning, for 8 to 10 minutes until the skins blister, char and tighten. Cut it into thick coins with a heavy knife, straight on the board.
7. Serve hot with kachumbari, a squeeze of lemon and a small pile of salt and chilli to dip into. It is Kikuyu in origin, made when an animal is slaughtered so that nothing is wasted, and it is now street food everywhere in the country.

Technique

• Ask the butcher for cleaned casings, which saves an hour of unpleasant work.
• Some versions use no blood at all and are meat and offal only.
• It is eaten hot from the grill and does not keep well.

Substitutions

• Ready-cleaned sausage casings from a butcher.
• A version with no blood, which is common and much easier to source.

Variations

• Made without blood, as a plain meat and offal sausage.
• With more chilli, which is the usual street preference.
• With potato mashed through the filling.

History

Kikuyu blood sausage: goat or cow intestine stuffed with minced meat, offal and blood, then grilled over street braziers and cut into coins.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mutura?

Mutura is a street food from Kenya: grilled blood-and-meat sausage sold at roadside butcheries. Kikuyu blood sausage: goat or cow intestine stuffed with minced meat, offal and blood, then grilled over street braziers and cut into coins.

How long does Mutura take to make?

Mutura takes 1 hr 30 min of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 6 lengths. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Mutura?

Yes, within limits. Ready-cleaned sausage casings from a butcher. A version with no blood, which is common and much easier to source.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mutura?

Turn the intestines inside out by pushing one end back on itself and running water through. Turning them is not optional, because the inner surface is the one that needs cleaning.