Mchemsho

Ingredients

Meat

• 800 gbeef on the bone
• in large pieces
• or goat
• 2 litreswater
• salt

The pot

• 6green cooking bananas
• peeled and halved
• 4potatoes, in chunks
• 3carrots, in chunks
• 2onions, quartered
• 3tomatoes, chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm ginger, grated
• 200 ggreen beans
• 1red pepper, in strips
• 1 teaspoonblack pepper
• 1stock cube, optional

Sometimes added

• 200 mlcoconut milk
• a handful of spinach
• 1hot chilli, whole

To serve

• in deep bowls
• with the broth
• kachumbari

Directions

1. Oil your hands before you start. Put them straight into water as you go. That keeps them pale until they cook. Put the beef in a large heavy pot. Cover it over with all the water. Add salt and bring it to a boil.
2. Skim off any grey scum that rises. Do it in the first few minutes. Let it simmer for about an hour. Only occasional bubbles should break the surface. Simmer it on if it still resists. Add the quartered onions to the pot. Add the garlic and the grated ginger. Add the chopped tomatoes as well.
3. Add the black pepper and the stock cube. Simmering them takes ten minutes. Let them simmer for about ten minutes. Cut the ends off each green banana. Score the skin lengthways in three places. The skin is far too tight for that. Cut the peeled bananas in half. Or leave them whole if they are small. Put them into water as you go. Add the bananas and the potatoes.
4. Add the carrots along with them. They take the longest to cook. Let them simmer for about twenty minutes. Keep it at a gentle simmer throughout. Adding the rest is straightforward enough. Add the green beans to the pot. Add the red pepper strips as well. Add the whole chilli if you want it. Let them cook for eight more minutes. Green beans go soft very quickly.
5. Stir coconut milk in near the end. Let it warm right through gently. Coconut milk splits if boiled hard. Take the pot off soon after adding it. Stir a handful of spinach in at the end. Give it just two minutes only.
6. Add things in order and it works. Taste the broth and adjust the salt. Add more black pepper if you like. A large pot of broth needs real salt. Taste it properly right at the end.
7. Lift the whole chilli out before serving. Serving it is always done hot. Ladle it out into deep warm bowls. Ladle plenty of broth into each bowl. Serve kachumbari alongside it. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• These are green cooking bananas, starchy and not sweet at all, which behave like a potato and are a staple rather than a fruit; a sweet banana would ruin the pot. They will not peel like ripe ones — cut the ends off, score the skin lengthways in three places and prise it off in strips, since trying to peel them directly does not work.
• Green banana sap stains hands badly and leaves them sticky for hours, so oil your hands or peel under running water; and put the peeled pieces straight into water, since they darken very fast.
• Everything cooks in one pot in stages by cooking time — meat first and longest, then bananas, potatoes and carrots, then green beans and pepper — and the whole difficulty is that everything should be cooked but still distinct rather than collapsed into the broth. The broth is served with the dish rather than drained away.

Substitutions

• Goat stands in for beef and is common.
• Coconut milk stirred in near the end enriches it, though it must not boil hard or it splits.

Variations

• It is the lighter alternative to nyama choma, the grilled meat, with nothing fried at all.
• A handful of spinach wilted in at the end is a common addition.
• Kachumbari, the sharp raw tomato and onion relish, is served alongside.

History

An Arusha one-pot of boiled meat, plantain, potato and vegetables, popular as a lighter Chagga alternative to grilled meat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mchemsho?

Mchemsho is a soup & stew from Tanzania: northern one-pot boil of meat, bananas, potatoes and vegetables. An Arusha one-pot of boiled meat, plantain, potato and vegetables, popular as a lighter Chagga alternative to grilled meat.

How long does Mchemsho take to make?

Mchemsho takes 30 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Mchemsho?

Yes, within limits. Goat stands in for beef and is common. Coconut milk stirred in near the end enriches it, though it must not boil hard or it splits.

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

Add the carrots along with them. They take the longest to cook. Let them simmer for about twenty minutes. Keep it at a gentle simmer throughout. Adding the rest is straightforward enough. Add the green beans to the pot. Add the red pepper strips as well. Add the whole chilli if you want it. Let them cook for eight more minutes. Green beans go soft very quickly.