Traditional cachupa rica: the Cape Verdean stew of corn, beans, meats and vegetables that is the national dish

Cachupa is all of Cape Verde in one pot: the corn and beans that withstand the islands' drought, the meats that appear when there are any, the vegetables of the season and the hours of fire that turn everything into a thick, comforting stew. There is cachupa pobre, only corn, beans and a little fish or lard, and cachupa rica, for feast days, with sausage, pork, sometimes chicken, and all the vegetables from the garden.

The corn is the dried, cracked white grain called cachupa corn or hominy, which needs an overnight soak and two or three hours in the pot to soften. It cooks together with the beans, and the meat, cassava, sweet potato, collards or cabbage and pumpkin go in stages, each in its own time. The broth thickens on its own with the starch from the corn.

Every island and every family has its own, and the best of all is the next day: cachupa refogada, cachupa guisada, fried in a pan with onion until it forms a crust, with a fried egg and sausage on top. It is the Cape Verdean breakfast par excellence.

Recipe card

• Origin: Cape Verde
• Category: Main course, corn stew
• Difficulty: Easy, slow
• Preparation time: 40 minutes (plus overnight soaking)
• Cooking time: 3 hours
• Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 500 g dried white corn for cachupa (white hominy), soaked overnight
• 200 g black-eyed peas or white beans, soaked together
• 150 g red or butter beans, soaked together
• 300 g pork (ribs or shoulder) in pieces
• 2 smoked sausages or chorizo in thick slices
• 150 g bacon or pork belly in cubes
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil or lard
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 400 g peeled cassava in pieces
• 2 sweet potatoes in pieces
• 300 g pumpkin in pieces
• 1/2 cabbage or 1 bunch collard greens in thick strips
• 2 green plantains in pieces (optional)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Hot water

Method

1. Drain the corn and beans and put them in a large pot with hot water three fingers above. Add the bay leaves and cook on medium for 1 hour 30 minutes, topping up with hot water whenever it drops.
2. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil, brown the bacon, pork and sausage for 10 minutes and set aside.
3. In the same fat, sauté the onion and garlic for 8 minutes, add the tomato and paprika and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add the sauté and the meats to the corn pot, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 30 minutes.
5. Add the cassava and sweet potato and cook for 20 minutes.
6. Add the pumpkin, cabbage and plantain and cook for 30 minutes, until the corn is soft and the broth thick, without drying out.
7. Taste for salt, remove the bay leaves and let rest 15 minutes before serving.
8. The next day, for cachupa refogada: brown an onion in olive oil, add the cold cachupa and fry on high heat, stirring little, until a crust forms at the bottom. Serve with a fried egg and grilled sausage.

Tips and variations

• In a pressure cooker, the corn and beans cook in 40 minutes; finish with the vegetables in an open pot.
• Cachupa pobre: only corn, beans, onion, garlic, bay leaf and a piece of fish or pork belly.
• Fish cachupa (tuna or grouper) is the version from the islands of Sal and Boa Vista.
• The broth should be like a moist stew, not a soup; let it reduce uncovered at the end if needed.
• Freezes very well in portions; the refried version is even better with cachupa that was frozen and thawed.
• White hominy from a Brazilian supermarket is the exact substitute for cachupa corn.
• A glass of grogue, the Cape Verdean sugarcane spirit, or red wine closes the meal.

Cachupa is the pot that gathers the family on the islands: soft corn, beans, meat and vegetables in a thick broth, and tomorrow's breakfast already guaranteed in the pan with a fried egg.