Cabo Verde - Cachupa adaptation

This week I made an adaptation of the Cabo Verde stew cachupa - this stew comes in a "rich" and a "poor" version which seems to be defined by whether the person cooking it can afford meat or not; but crucially both versions have corn - not sweetcorn, but corn, which has sadly turned out to be something that I couldn't find anywhere I looked. Corn is one of my favourite things, the thought of eating it BBQd over charcoal on the roadside of Colombian roads covered in butter brings back so many happy memories... I now can't wait to try to cook this again when I'm next in Colombia!

For this week I settled for a mix of two recipes a rich and a poor cachupa! The stew was delicious and I will make it again for sure!

Serves 5

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil

• 1 onion diced finely

• 2 garlic cloves smashed

• 6 large tomatoes diced

• 2 bay leaves

• 1tsp paprika

• 2 chorizo sausages cut into bite sized pieces

• 150ml of white wine

• 6 large carrots cut into 2cm pieces

• 2 large potatoes cut into bite sized pieces

• 2 sweet potatoes cut into bite sized pieces

• 500g butternut squash cut into bite sized pieces

• 1 stock cube

• 500ml water

• 2 tins of white beans

• 100g of green beans sliced

• 1/2 a head of cabbage cut into pieces

• salt and pepper

Method

1. In a large saucepan, over medium heat add the oil and once warm add the onion, garlic, bay leaves, paprika and tomatoes. Stir for a few minutes until the tomatoes begin to release their juices.

2. Add the chorizo and cook for 5 minutes. Then deglaze the saucepan with the wine. Allow the wine to evaporate for 5 minutes and then add the carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, stock cube and water. Simmer on low heat until the vegetables are cooked through.

3. Taste and season with salt and paper.

4. Add the cabbage, white and green beans, simmer until just cooked. Taste and season again, then serve.