Cachupa

Ingredients

Soaked overnight

• 500 gdried hominy corn (milho para cachupa), soaked 12 hours
• 300 gdried butter beans or feijão pedra, soaked 12 hours
• 150 gdried kidney beans, soaked 12 hours

Meats

• 400 gpork belly or shoulder, in chunks
• 200 glinguiça or chouriço, thickly sliced
• 200 gsalted pork ribs, soaked and rinsed
• 1pig’s trotter, split (optional, for body)

Pot

• 4 tbspolive oil
• 2onions, chopped
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 3tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsptomato paste
• 2bay leaves
• 1 tspsweet paprika
• 1whole malagueta chilli
• 3 litreswater
• 2 tspsalt

Vegetables

• 400 gwhite cabbage, in wedges
• 300 gcassava, in chunks
• 300 gsweet potato, in chunks
• 300 gpumpkin, in chunks
• 2green bananas, peeled and halved
• 2carrots, in thick rounds

Directions

1. Drain the soaked corn and beans and put them in a large heavy pot with 3 litres of fresh water and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then simmer, partly covered, for 1 hour 30 minutes. Corn takes far longer than beans, which is why they start together and nothing else goes in yet.
2. Meanwhile fry the onion in the olive oil over medium heat for 10 minutes until golden, add the garlic and paprika for 1 minute, then the tomato paste for 3 minutes and the chopped tomatoes for 8 minutes until thick.
3. Add this refogado to the pot along with the pork belly, ribs and trotter and the whole chilli. Simmer a further 1 hour until the meat is tender and the corn kernels have split open and gone creamy at the edges.
4. Add the cassava, sweet potato and carrot and cook 20 minutes, then the pumpkin, cabbage and green bananas and cook 15 minutes more.
5. Add the sliced linguiça in the last 15 minutes only — added early it goes grainy and gives up all its paprika into the pot.
6. Season with salt now, not earlier: the salted ribs release plenty and the pot can easily go too far.
7. Cachupa is ready when the pumpkin has dissolved into the broth and thickened it, the corn is soft but still has bite, and a spoon stood in the middle sinks slowly. If it is too loose, mash a ladle of beans and stir them back in.
8. Rest it 20 minutes off the heat and serve in deep bowls. It is better the next day, and better again the day after that.

Technique

• Cachupa is the national dish and a whole-day pot, cooked in enormous quantity for Sunday and eaten all week. There are two registers: cachupa rica, with several meats and a full range of vegetables, and cachupa pobre, made with corn, beans and whatever else the house has.
• The corn matters. It is dried, cracked hominy, not sweetcorn and not polenta, and it needs a full overnight soak and hours of cooking to go creamy without turning to porridge.
• The dish varies by island: Santiago tends to be heartier and meatier, São Vicente uses more vegetables and often tuna, and each island argues its own is the real one.

Substitutions

• No hominy corn: dried white maize or samp from an African or Latin grocer behaves the same way. Tinned hominy works in a pinch — add it in the last 30 minutes only.
• For a fish cachupa, replace the meats with 500 g of fresh tuna or wahoo, added in the final 15 minutes so it does not fall apart.

Variations

• Cachupa refogada or guisada is the famous breakfast: yesterday’s cachupa fried hard in oil with onion until the edges crisp, topped with a fried egg and a slice of sausage.
• Cachupa de peixe, the fish version, is standard on São Vicente and in fishing villages across the islands.

History

The national dish, a slow stew of hominy corn and beans; leftovers are fried the next morning as cachupa refogada with an egg.

Frequently asked questions

What is Cachupa?

Cachupa is a main from Cape Verde: slow-simmered corn and bean stew with fish or pork; refried for breakfast. The national dish, a slow stew of hominy corn and beans; leftovers are fried the next morning as cachupa refogada with an egg.

How long does Cachupa take to make?

Cachupa takes 40 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 3 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Cachupa?

Yes, within limits. No hominy corn: dried white maize or samp from an African or Latin grocer behaves the same way. Tinned hominy works in a pinch — add it in the last 30 minutes only. For a fish cachupa, replace the meats with 500 g of fresh tuna or wahoo, added in the final 15 minutes so it does not fall apart.

What is the most important thing to get right in Cachupa?

Drain the soaked corn and beans and put them in a large heavy pot with 3 litres of fresh water and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then simmer, partly covered, for 1 hour 30 minutes. Corn takes far longer than beans, which is why they start together and nothing else goes in yet.