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Mulah Bamyah Mafruka (Whipped Fresh Okra Stew with Lamb)
A silky, verdant riverine stew of tender lamb and fresh okra vigorously whipped with a traditional mafraka until flawlessly mucilaginous.
The story
Deeply anchored in riverine Nile communities such as the Ja'alin and Danagla, Mulah Bamyah Mafruka is the quintessential midday family meal, poured over paper-thin sheets of fermented sorghum kisra. The dish is defined by the physical action of whipping with a wooden cross-head whisk called a mafraka, which shears the mucilage without aerating the stew into a foam. Adding a pinch of natron (atrun or food-grade bicarbonate) preserves the radiant green chlorophyll and rapidly breaks down the cellular walls of the fresh okra pods.
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