Kebabs in a Circle
Agache – or chicken and beef kebabs with peanut sauce
The Friday before I left for El Fasher found me at a soiree on the banks of the Nile, just outside Khartoum. We lounged around on carpets set beside a mango grove and surrounded by candles. Our food was a sort of kebab – chicken or beef – covered in peanut sauce. It was cooked in ingenious fashion. The skewers were arranged in a circle around the cooking fire, pushed into the ground so they stood upright. The meat cooked slowly and the result was a soft and delicious, peanutty mouthful.
There was agreement that the dish was called agache but some dispute about whether it was Sudanese or Ethiopian. I didn’t join in the discussion. My mouth was full.