Cachupa
Cape Verde's national dish, a slow-cooked corn-and-bean stew born under Portuguese colonial slavery, when enslaved Africans combined available dried hominy corn and beans with whatever scraps of meat were on hand; Portuguese colonization later added chorizo, bay leaf, and olive oil to the tradition. The rica-versus-pobre distinction is real, not marketing: cachupa pobre, with little or no meat, is the historically authentic base born of scarcity, while cachupa rica, loaded with sausage and meat, is a later, wealthier addition. Leftovers are traditionally refried the next morning as cachupa refogada, a real serving custom worth keeping.
Meat-optional
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried hominy corn, soaked overnight
- 1 cup dried lima or kidney beans, soaked overnight
- 500g pork shoulder, cubed
- 200g linguiça or chorizo, sliced
- 1 sweet potato, cubed
- 1 cassava, peeled and cubed
- 1/2 squash, cubed
- 2 cups cabbage or kale, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt
Steps
- Simmer the soaked corn and beans with the pork and sausage for 2-3 hours until tender.
- Add the sweet potato, cassava, and squash, and cook until tender, about 30-40 minutes.
- Add the cabbage or kale in the last 15 minutes.
- Season with salt and simmer until stew-thick.