Corn is one of the staple foods here and is grown on nearly every island. It is used in a variety of ways -- fresh, dried and canned. Here are some of our discoveries!
One of hundreds of small corn patches we see as we travel the islands. This one is on Monte Verde.
Even the cultural artwork includes cultivating corn!
Cachupa
Cachupa is the Cape Verde national dish. I don’t think it was declared such by the government, but everyone makes and eats cachupa. Each island, so we hear, has its own version, but the general ingredients are the same.
And grinding or crushing the corn for cachupa is very much a subject for cultural and tourist art!
First you start with corn. This is a dried, parched corn that they pound into small pieces. We have learned that they add a little water to the corn when they pound it. Otherwise, it just turns into flour and corn meal. And we found out that the small pieces that are created in the pounding, probably some of the skin and other things, are just thrown out or given to the animals.
Then you add 3-4 kinds of dried beans. Then you add meat and onions and cabbage and whatever your island calls for. There is a very simple cachupa with the basic ingredients, or you can have “cachupa rico” with all sorts of items to give it flavor.
I have developed my own version of cachupa. It’s based on what a Cape verdean missionary told me I needed to buy and put in. However, he was transferred before he could show me how to make it. So, I just did what I remembered him saying. We have shared it and locals say it tastes just fine!!
One day, as we were walking through a neighborhood, Dennis said “STOP”. Looking up, we saw a woman beating the corn in the traditional HUGE mortar and pestle – a pilão e pau. We had seen artwork showing this, but had never actually seen anyone doing it. They saw us looking and invited us onto their roof top to watch.
Here they are working. The woman standing up keeps a very steady beat with about 1 second intervals and with no pauses. Which is good. The woman sitting down does her pestle in the upstroke of the other. She also uses her hand to help the corn feed into the center of the mortar (during the upstroke as well). They are so well timed that they NEVER missed a beat or hit the other pestle – or hand.
It is a lot of work!! They pound with great force. They do pause to rest and the woman sitting will put the ground corn in a wide, flat basket and then swish it around (and not a grain falls out!) and put the large corn pieces that come to the top back into the mortar. They said it takes about 30 minutes to pound enough corn for their Cacupa.
The work doesn’t end with the pounding. It will take about a week to make the cachupa. The corn and beans need to be soaked, cooked, the other ingredients added. They will eat this cachupa the next Saturday, one week after they pounded it!
To see them work, click on the play button below!
So, here is the Broderick version of cachupa.
The corn. When I checked on line, it appears that you can order “yellow samp” which I guess is what it is called in English. I have also seen online that samp is also hominy. We haven’t tried cachupa using real, pounded corn. We would like to try it. They say it is different.
You have to soak it overnight after bringing it to a boil. The next morning you start it cooking and as it begins to soften, you add the vegetables and spices. Since I used the dry beans, you have to do the same (boil, soak and then cook) until they too are almost soft before adding to the corn.
Then you add the other ingredients. The one ingredient not shown is the chicken legs that are already cooking with the corn. I use 4 kinds of beans – one red, one white and 2 others I don’t know the names of. I just asked at the store what beans should be used in cachupa, and I used what they put in my basket.
Here is the yellow and white corn mostly cooked and ready for the rest of the ingredients. The chicken is already cooked and taken off the bones.
Dinner is almost ready!! It takes about 3-4 hours of simmering.
Elder Broderick is ready to take his first spoonful!
If you are interested, here is my recipe!
Cachupa - Broderick style
½ cup corn -- dry, yellow samp or hominy
½ cup corn -- dry, white samp or hominy
1 1/3 cups dry beans -- 4 different types
2 large onion
5 cloves garlic
½ cup tomato sauce
3 chicken bouillon cubes
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 chicken drumsticks
½ head cabbage – medium, cut into pieces
2 carrots -- peeled and cubed
2 chorizo, cut into small pieces
2 bay leaf, whole
½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes
Place corn in one pan, the beans in another. Cover with water so that water is 2-3 inches above the level of corn/beans, bring to boil, turn off heat and let sit several hours or overnight. After soaking, drain the corn and cover with water. Add chicken legs and cook until corn begins to soften, adding water to keep corn covered. Cook beans separately until they are nearly soft. Drain beans.
Add beans and the rest of the ingredients to the corn/chicken pan. Take meat off chicken and put in soup. Add water to just cover soup. Bring to boil and cook until corn and beans are soft and vegetables are soft, adding water as needed. Check to see if needs more chicken bouillon or salt.
Makes 3 meals for the 2 of us with leftovers.
In fact, it sounds so good as I do this blog, I think we will have the last container of cachupa in the freezer for dinner this afternoon!
Bon Appétit!
Kamoka is made from the dried, parched corn that is toasted and then ground into a find powder. People put it in their hot milk, somewhat like Postum. One of our young adults eats it dry mixed with sugar. We bought some as the missionaries said it was wonderful and we would love it! But we didn’t enjoy it. We finally gave it to someone that did!
While visiting families in Fogo that were nearly ready for our water project connections, we heard this whirring inside the home. They invited us in and a woman was sitting on the ground grinding the corn for Kamoka!
The top stone is the grinding stone and she feeds 3-5 kernels of corn at a time. There is a small hole on the side for the ground corn to come out and fall into the bowl.
Here she is working and Janet tried her hand at it, too. The stones move smoothly against each other but the top stone is quite heavy. One’s arms would get quite tired after awhile!
Cuscuz
Cuscuz is a heavy cake made from corn flour and manioc flour. It is made in a special pan that is tall and relatively narrow. They eat it hot with butter, jam and milk. Especially the milk because it is quite dry! But, it is good.
For refreshments after a Young Adult activity, the YA made various Cape Verdean treats. Here is the spread:
The bowl on the left are “cookies”, not very sweet and more like a thick cracker. Here they deep fat fried and salted them. An interesting twist.
The middle is the cuscuz. The plate on the right is a chocolate cake. And you can see the green milk carton ready to open.
Here they are enjoying the feast. The cuscuz is on the tray at the bottom of the picture.
Salads
There is no such thing as the lettuce salad we are familiar with. You cannot buy salad dressings in the store. What they do instead, is made an artistic collection of vegetables. They are works of art!! And canned corn is often used!
First, there is the layered look!
Then there is the abstract look.
And for Thanksgiving, I tried my hand at salad art!
And finally:
Corn on the Cob
September is the month for milho verde – green corn. It is basically our corn on the cob. But the cobs are MUCH smaller, and they pick them more mature. But it tasted good. And they grow corn caterpillars just fine!
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And that is just 5 ways corn is used here. There are more, seven more according to one older woman we met! Maybe we will discover them! (We do use corn in our tacos and burritos, if that counts!)
