Molokony, the craze in Kampala restaurants

If there’s any secret in eating cow hooves popularly known as molokony, then many men of approximately 35years and above yearn for it the most. In rare cases, will you find a woman ordering for molokony. While at Beer Gardens in Bukoto, one of the places where one can find this delicacy, you will hardly find any youth in their 20s ordering for it, unless it is on doctor’s orders.

molokony looks like a piece of fat on a hollow bone. It is also not a meal you will enjoy using a fork or chop sticks, but rather your hands. You might only need a spoon to scoop soup from the bowl.

On one Sunday evening, at Beer Gardens, a joint I frequent with friends, middle aged men dressed in T-shirts and sandals form most of the crowd. A few women go to this place. To take my order, a female light skinned plump chef approaches me asking which part of the cow leg I want. Confused, I tell her to bring a piece with fine meat.

She labours to explaing that there are different parts viz kalinya (the hoof), the joint and the pipe. I get to learn that most people prefer kalinya to any other.
After enjoying my meal that came with pieces of steamed cassava, she came to clear the table. I ask her what it takes to prepare molokony at home. First roast it so that the fur gets burnt and it is easy to scrap off the skin. After, chop it into the desirable number of pieces.

“The common mistake that people who prepare it at home do is to fry molokony. This dilutes or spoils natural nutrients,” she points out. The waitress asks me if I want to buy it for my wife to start cooking it from home but I’m honest that I’m single. She laughs at me and advises that if I ever get married, molokony should be prepared well so that the consumer enjoys all nutrients.

Why others enjoy this delicacy
I shift to the next table where a patron who identifies himself as Charles Bizimana, a resident of Bukoto sits isolated at a distance from where football screens are. As he sips on beer while waiting for the waitress to take away the dirty plates, I engage him in a chat. He admits that he enjoys molokony every evening and in rare cases at lunch time.

“To me, molokony is more than food it is a source of bone marrow that helps in lubricating joints such as knees and elbows,” Bizimana explains. Asked if the sticky fat is of any harm to the body, he explains that when one takes alcohol and develop hangover, the fats help to neutralise the hangover and one feels refreshed after taking molokony.

While a first time consumer may only eat the top soft part and throw away the bones, Bizimana advises inside the hollow bones is where the most important bone marrow that lubricates body joints is.

“It may not be scooped using hands or a fork but when the consumer holds the bone and sucks it out, they get it all out,” he stresses. After about a 10-minutes- chat, he excuses himself to go and attend to other duties.

Another patron Robert Tukamushaba joins me. He is a fairly tall and old man who is relishing the molokony side by side with a bottle of beer while watching football.

When his team misses a goal scoring opportunity, he almost forgets about his plate, but seconds later, he resumes eating. I divert his attention to ask what secret he finds in eating molokony as I sip on soda. Tukamushaba does not hesitate to explain that when a person is low on food appetite, molokony soup does not only stimulate appetite but works as a stomach cleanser. “This soup detoxifies the stomach and leaves one feeling healthier than before,” he beams while explaining.

He adds, “It is also good for aging people. As we grow old, we tend to develop constant back pain. So when someone begins to experience such a problem and he or she takes molokony constantly, they may heal for good,” explaining further that it is food that someone can never get tired of and that it also helps in preventing constipation.

Downtown
I then go to a spot at Arua Park between People’s Plaza and an enclosed construction site. This is down town Kampala where people mostly those retiring home from work pass by to feast on molokony, it is no secret that the people there also enjoy it.

One by one, on benches positioned next to the building people are served depending on how much they want until the saucepan runs dry at 10pm. Here, some customers are known to the woman who prepares molokony. They call out her name from a distance making their orders, she is able to understand who is calling her and what and how they want their evening meal served.

This happens as I look on, seated with Rogers Ndawula, a businessman. As he holds a piece of molokony in the right hand and the other holding a bowl with few pieces of steamed cassava, I’m sipping on a cup of black tea and eating a chapatti, not because I do not have the Shs3,000 for molokony, but because my eating plan excludes having a heavy meal after 7pm.

“That food looks tasty,” I tell Ndawula who is enjoying his meal. He is quick to respond that he learnt how to enjoy molokony from a friend about two years ago. Though he eats it once a week, he is not shy to explain that alongside other benefits it also increases his sexual performance.

Health experts say…
Charles Kibuuka, a physiotherapist at Orthotech and Physical Rehabilitation Centre, at Equatorial Mall in Kampala, says when you get proteins in the synovial fluids found in the joints and compare it with what you get from eating molokony, the latter is more important because it mainly targets the joints where it contributes to joint lubrication and softening. “If a human joint was getting dry and a person takes molokony, the joint regains its performance,” Kibuuka notes.

In the process of boiling molokony, the calcium and phosphates composed in the bones transfers to the soup, and when one takes the soup, Kibuuka says, the minerals help in strengthening and hardening of bones.

On how often one should eat molokony, he explains that in case of osteorthritis, a degenerative disease that one contracts as a result of the wear and tear of joint tissues which is common among people with reduced amounts of calcium in their joints, molokony is a healthy remedy.

He advises that a person with such a condition should take molokony twice a week.
However, its fatty quality may pose risks such as fat accumulation in blood vessels and around the heart that causes hypertension. Kibuuka advises that after eating it, one should subject themselves to regular exercises like jogging to burn the fats.

And in a situation of a positive rheumatoid factor, a condition where the joint proteins become reactive or incompatible to the proteins in molokony which may sometimes lead to the swelling of the knee, it is recommended that the affected person should either limit protein intake or identify what causes the swelling. Then, he or she can stop eating that particular food, be it molokony especially if the condition happened when the person has eaten it for the first time.

Cost of the delicacy
Depending on where one buys it, which could either be at a restaurant, hotel or a bar in places adjacent or within Kampala City, a piece of molokony served with boiled cassava, steamed or roast matooke it costs between Shs2,500 and Shs6,000.

From the market and butcheries in Mukono District, a cow leg costs between Shs 4,000 and Shs 8,000. It is then chopped into hooves, the join and the pipe.
At Beer Gardens in Bukoto, I had to part with Shs4,000 for a piece served with steamed cassava. In some cases where it may stay overnight without being eaten, Tukamushaba advises that it’s better to separate the soup from the molokony pieces; because it is likely to cause food poisoning.

Recipe for molokony
Hellena Asiimwe, a chef at Beer Gardens in Bukoto explains that to prepare molokony, you need the following:
Four tomatoes
Two onions, leeks
One big green paper
One big carrot
A pinch of salt
Small onion leaves and a teaspoon of black pepper or other spice and salt.

METHOD
Roast the feet over a direct low flame to remove the fur. Ensure you do not burn the hooves.
Gently scrape the remaining fur and parts that may have burnt. Cut the hoof into pieces of a reasonable size.
Soak in water for about 30 minutes. Drain and place in a saucepan. Add water and salt and boil for about an hour.
Add the garlic, leeks, carrot, onion and leave to simmer on slightly low fire until the soup reduces. Add the Irish and simmer until Irish is cooked but not mashed. Add black pepper and serve.
If the molokony is from for a younger cow, cook it for four hours, unlike for an old cow that takes six to eight hours .