Cape Verde Islands Bean & Hominy Stew: Cachupa

Cape Verde is a country made up of several islands (an archipelago) in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 350 miles off the western coast of Africa. Cape Verde's official language is Portuguese, and the name is "Cabo Verde" in Portuguese. The Portuguese were great explorers and Cape Verde was discovered by the Portuguese in the mid 1400s, and it became a colony of Portugal in the late 1400s, and Cape Verde gained its independence in 1975. The population is nearly a half million, with people of Portuguese ancestry being common, but with some of other European ancestry too, as well as people of Middle Eastern and Sub-Sahara African background. The capital is Praia, and it is located on the island of Santiago, the largest island of the archipelago.

 

"Cachupa" is the national dish of Cape Verde, and as with popular dishes, there are variations, with even a vegetarian style prepared. Most of the variations have to do with the types of meat used, as well as the mix of beans used; and yes, the dish typically includes more than one type of bean. Cape Verdeans generally use dried hominy and dried beans, so the preparation time is naturally longer, but I use canned hominy and canned beans, everything rinsed, to shorten the overall time needed to enjoy this stew, and it is a good one! 

 

Chouriço is traditionally a smoked Portuguese sausage, typically flavored with garlic, red wine and some smoked paprika. While it is akin to Spanish chorizo, it is not really the same, as the Spanish sausage is typically not smoked, but rather it is cured by drying over a period of time and it has more paprika as a seasoning. Neither of these sausages is the same as Mexican chorizo, as the Mexican version is generally fresh and needs to be thoroughly cooked. The Mexican version is the most common chorizo in the U.S. and "likely" also in Canada, although Spanish chorizo can be found in the U.S., but it "may" take a bit of effort. I'm in Cleveland, and the Greater Cleveland area is quite diverse, with people from all over the world. A few years ago, I wanted to do a Spanish recipe* that needs Spanish chorizo, so I went to our West Side Market, but no vendor there had Spanish chorizo, and not only that, one or two of the vendors weren't quite sure what I meant by "Spanish" chorizo, so strong is the influence of Mexican chorizo. If you like trying to find ethnic foods, see if your community has Portuguese chouriço or Spanish chorizo, but if not, you can easily find either online, or you can use some pepperoni, although it won't be the same. "Blood sausage" is commonly called "blood pudding" in Britain, and in Portuguese it is "morcela." Blood sausage is "generally" sold in delis, and again, if you live in an area with a number of people of Portuguese heritage, you'll likely find "morcela," but it can also be found online, and you can substitute other blood sausage, like Spanish (morcilla) or British (blood pudding).           

 

This stew is commonly served with piri piri sauce on the side. Piri piri is Portuguese hot sauce, and it is my understanding that people in Cape Verde do not add the pepper sauce to the dish itself, but rather piri piri is put on the table for each person to season their stew to their own heat level preference.  

 

Ingredients (6 to 8 servings):

 

1 1/2 pounds pork ribs

1 pound chouriço, sliced into about 2/3 to 1 inch pieces

2/3 to 1 pound blood sausage, sliced about 2/3 to 1 inch thick

8 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 slices bacon, chopped 

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/4 to 1 1/3 cups chopped onion 

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced

1 cup chopped yam

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or just white vinegar)

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika

1 tablespoon tomato paste (or thick ketchup) 

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) yellow hominy, rinsed

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) butter beans, rinsed

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) red kidney beans, rinsed

3 cups chopped kale 

In a pot, add the pork ribs and 8 cups of water, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook until the ribs are tender, remove them to a plate and let them cool down, and then take the meat off the bones. Skim off the foam from the cooking water, then strain the water into another pan or other container (just in case there are any bone or gristle bits), then add it back to the pot. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the bacon, followed about 2 minutes later by the onions, followed about 2 minutes later by the garlic. Saute for a few minutes until the onion begins to soften, then add the contents to the pot (oil, bacon grease and all), along with the the chouriço, blood sausage, chopped yams, bay leaves, vinegar, ground white pepper, smoked paprika, tomato paste/ketchup, rinsed hominy, rinsed butter beans and rinsed kidney beans. Bring to a light boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a steady gentle simmer. Use a lid or foil and cover and cook for 45 minutes to one hour, periodically checking the pot and stirring. Remove the lid/cover and add the chopped kale and stir it into the stew. Cook uncovered for another 10 to 15 minutes. Stir well before serving in shallow bowls with some crusty bread and hot sauce on the side. 

* The dish was "Spanish Butter Bean & Chorizo Stew," known in Spanish as "Fabada Asturiana." Here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/04/spanish-butter-bean-chorizo-stew-fabada.html 

 

WORD HISTORY:     

Yam-This word technically is used incorrectly in English as another name for a sweet potato, a vegetable to which scientists say true yams are not related. I'll skip the technicalities, since "yam" IS used in English for a sweet potato, but the word's origin lies in West Africa from one of the Niger-Congo languages of that region,^ perhaps Fulani, which has "nyami," a word that actually means "to eat," but true yams are a main source of food in some cultures in Africa; thus, a form of the word is applied to "yams." Both the Spanish and Portuguese were involved in the slave trade in West Africa during the 1500/1600s where they borrowed a form of the word; Spanish has "ñame" (pronounced like "nyahmay") and Portuguese has "inhame" (seemingly pronounced both "in-yah-mi" or "in-yah-meh"). "Perhaps" English picked up the word in Jamaica, once a Spanish possession with numerous West African slaves, but taken over by England in the mid 1600s.    
 
^ The Niger-Congo family of languages includes many African languages and dialects, including Zulu, Swahili and Fulani. Niger-Congo is to these languages what Indo European is to English, German, Italian, Hindustani or Persian (and many others).

Guinea-Bissau Tuna with Avocado: Abacate com Atum

Guinea-Bissau is a country in western Africa. It is ia former colony of Portugal, and indeed, Portuguese is the national language, although there are numerous African languages spoken on a daily basis, as are less formal forms of Portuguese. Guinea-Bissau formally became independent from Portuguese rule in 1974.  

 

Just a reminder: when you use avocados in recipes, you need lemon or lime juice, or vinegar, to keep the avocado from turning dark due to contact with oxygen. So be sure to include the lemon juice in this recipe. Portuguese "Abacate com Atum" simple means "Avocado with Tuna." 

Ingredients:

 

2 soft, but not mushy, avocados, halved and pitted

1 cooked piece of tuna, about 5 ounces (or use canned tuna, drained)

2 medium roma tomatoes, chopped

2/3 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 

2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot sauce (piri piri, if you have it, also called pili pili in many African cultures)

2 tablespoons grated coconut 

4 lemon slices for garnish

I cooked the tuna in a skillet with a little olive oil and just a small amount of salt and pepper (not counted in the amout of salt and pepper in the above recipe). Make sure the tuna is cooked through and then let it cool. Halve and pit the avocados, then carefully (don't damage the shells) scoop out the avocado flesh, chop it, and put it into a bowl (keep the shells). Add the tuna, chopped tomato, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, lemon peel, heavy cream, hot sauce, then mix everything together very well. Fill each avocado shell with the tuna mixture and sprinkle each with some grated coconut. Serve with lemon slices and maybe make the hot sauce available for those who like extra. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Utensil-This word is closely related to "use," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via Latin-based French. The ultimate origin of this word, and of its close relative "use," is unknown. It goes back to Latin "uti," which had a wide range of meanings: "to make use of, to gain from (thus also, to benefit, to profit), to enjoy, to consume." This produced Latin "usare," meaning, "to use." The verb's present participle was "utens," and with its inflected ending came the adjective form "utensilis," meaning "useful, having gainful or beneficial purpose, usable," the plural form of which was "utensilia," which was used as a noun meaning, "things for use, useful implements," and this passed into Latin-based Old French as the singular "utensile," meaning "implement, tool" (perhaps influenced heavily by Italian "utensile?") and English borrowed the word in the late 1300s as "utensile/utensyl," which then became "utensil." The meaning more and more was used for household tools and implements; thus, there came to be a great association with implements in a kitchen, but not exclusively so. 

African Hot Pepper Sauce: Pili Pili (Piri Piri)

The territories that came to form Mozambique were visited by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498, with increasing Portuguese influence in the area as the decades and centuries passed, and with chili peppers being one of the influences contributed by the Portuguese to parts of African cuisine, including in Mozambique, which became independent of Portugal in the mid 1970s.* The Portuguese and the Spanish had gotten chili peppers in the New World, but it was the Portuguese and their developing vast system of international trade and colonial possessions that is credited with spreading the use of chili peppers to quite a number of places around the world. 

  

"Pili pili" hot pepper sauce is used in a number of African countries and recipes vary from just a few ingredients to additions like carrot, tomato, sweet red pepper and onion. The name is pronounced as if, "peely peely," and it comes from the Swahili term for "pepper," and it is also known as "piri-piri" and "peri-peri." The Portuguese version, often written as "piripiri" in Portugal, is a common part of Portuguese cuisine, both as a part of recipes and more commonly as a condiment to season and to add "heat" to already prepared foods. The Portuguese also use chili peppers to make a type of "hot chili paste." 

 

You can use dried chilies if you don't have fresh chilies. The recipe below yields multiple servings; that is, servings in the sense of relatively small amounts being used for burgers or other sandwiches, or to add to recipes for some heat and flavor. Store the sauce in a glass container (the sauce can react with containers made from other materials) with a lid and place it in the refrigerator, where it should keep 2 to 3 weeks. 

Ingredients:

 

4 very hot chilies (like habaneros, scotch bonnets or African or Thai bird's eye chilies)

4 less hot red chilies (like Fresno chilies or cayenne peppers)

2 large cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 or 4 tablespoons water

 

Wear kitchen gloves when working with chili peppers. Use a blender or food processor. Remove the stems from the chilies, slit the chilies open and remove the seeds, although I generally leave a few seeds remain from the medium hot chilies. Process all of the ingredients, except the water, until smooth. Heat in a non reactive sauce pan or skillet over low heat for just a couple of minutes. The sauce will likely be very thick, so add a tablespoon of water and mix it in well, then see if you need to add another tablespoon of water or more to reach a good consistency. Transfer to a container and store unused portion in the refrigerator. The sauce will keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. Many African pili pili sauces are not particularly watery or runny; that is, they aren't much like Tabasco sauce or most other American type hot sauces, but rather a little thicker. 

* The capital of Mozambique is "Maputo," but it formerly was called "Lourenço Marques," named after a Portuguese explorer. The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese, but several African languages, including Swahili, are spoken in various parts of the country.

WORD HISTORY:

Constant-This is a prefixed word, with the "stant'' part being related to quite a number of words (or parts of words) like "stand," a word from the Germanic roots of English, also the "-stan" part of countries or regions like "Pakistan," with this suffix going back through Persian to Indo Iranian, to the verb "stay" (halt, remain), a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French. The "con-" prefix is a common Latin prefix (also as "com-") with the general meaning "with, together." The main part of the word goes back to Indo European "sta," which meant "to stand." This gave Latin "stare" (not to be confused with the English word of the same spelling), which meant "to stand, to remain in place." The two parts gave Latin "constare," meaning, "to stand with, to stand together." The participle form, "constans," and its accusative case form, gave Latin the adjective "constantem," meaning, "to stand together, to stand firm, to remain in place, unchanging." Latin-based Old French took the word as "constant," and English borrowed the word latter part of the 1300s from French, but with likely reinforcement from Latin.  

Portuguese Pork & Clams: Carne de Porco à Alentejana

This wonderful representative of Portuguese cuisine is really not hard to make, although it is not typically a dish to be made if you are in a hurry, as it "should" marinate for a number of hours before cooking. In her book, "Portuguese Homestyle Cooking," Ana Patuleia Ortins writes that the name of the dish implies its origin was in Alentejo, but that some believe it actually originated in the Algarve region, which is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal; and thus, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, which makes seafood plentiful and a large part of the regional cuisine. Alentejo is just above the Algarve region, but Ana Patuleia Ortins does not give her opinion as to where this dish started. There are a number of variations to this dish and crisply fried diced potatoes are a common accompaniment, with some even adding potatoes to the dish itself. Traditionally it is made with lard, but some have switched over to making it with olive oil, so I compromised and made it with olive oil and some rendered pork fat. 

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/4 pound pork, cut into bite size pieces
about 15 to 18 small fresh clams, shells cleaned.
3 to 4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 tablespoon rendered pork fat or lard
1/2 to 2/3 cup white wine
2 teaspoons sweet paprika (Spanish sweet paprika, if you have it; it's smoky)
1 large tomato, chopped
3 tablespoons piri piri Portuguese chili sauce (you can substitute Tabasco or Franks pepper sauce)*  
2/3 teaspoon white pepper (or black pepper)
1/2 teaspoon salt (later can add more to taste, if desired)

In a large bowl, add the pork pieces, sliced garlic, paprika, chili sauce, white pepper and salt. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 or 4 hours, although 8 to 10 hours is better, if possible. In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and pork fat or lard. Add the ingredients from the bowl and saute the pork, stirring and turning the pork pieces to lightly brown them. Add the chopped tomato pieces and white wine, reduce the heat to low and cover the skillet with a lid or aluminum foil; cook, stirring and turning the meat occasionally, until the pork is tender. Add the clams and cover the skillet again. Check after about 5 or 6 minutes. The clams should have opened; if not, give them another minute or two, and tap lightly on any that haven't opened, if they still do not open, then discard them. Serve with extra chili sauce on the side.  

* Long ago Portuguese explorers led to Portugal's involvement in parts of Africa, such as in what are modern Angola and Mozambique, for example. This brought about their attachment to a small African chili pepper commonly called "piri piri," which they then used to make a hot pepper sauce bearing the same name. It is a common condiment in Portuguese homes and restaurants, and also used as an ingredient in some Portuguese recipes. It is "similar" to Tabasco sauce or Frank's Red Hot Sauce. It is available in "some" parts of the United States where Portuguese immigrants established communities.    

I put the fried diced potatoes on the left side of the plate, but some serve the port and clams on top of the potatoes.

WORD HISTORY:  

Cuspidor-The main part of this word is distantly related to "spew" and to "spit," both words from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "spyu," which meant "to spit, to discharge fluid from the mouth." This gave Latin "spuere," which meant, "to spit." The first part of "cuspidor" goes back to Indo European "kom," which had the notion "by, with, near, beside." This gave Latin "com," and its variant form, "con," both meaning, "together, with," which were common prefixes, and at times used as prefixes of emphasis (intensification). Together the two parts gave Latin "conspuere," meaning, "to spit, to spit at or upon." This passed into Latin-based Portuguese as "cuspir," meaning, "to spit," and this produced the Portuguese noun "cuspideira," meaning, "a container for spitting;" thus, "a spittoon." This was borrowed by English in the 1700s, although it seems to have taken until the late 1700s to become more firmly established. 

Portuguese Chicken Piri Piri

In Portuguese this is called, "Frango Piri Piri." The small, hot, red chili peppers used by the Portuguese, "piri piri" (the term is from Swahili), are a common addition to a number of Portuguese recipes. They are a cousin to tabasco peppers and they vary from about 40,000 to more than 100,000 units on the Scoville Heat Scale for chilies. They come in jars in a vinegar brine and they can be a bit hard to find in the United States, although perhaps not in areas where many in the population have Portuguese heritage, like in parts of New England, California and Florida, where imported Portuguese products are likely more common. You will definitely find them online. Now, if you don't have these exact peppers, do not despair, as you can use just about any very hot chili pepper.

When I made this dish, I was just astounded by how good it was. I had piri piri peppers in a jar, and the brine was not overwhelmingly vinegary. You don't have to make it so hot that all you experience is heat from the chilies, but there's no question, if you have any nasal congestion, you won't have it after eating some of this chicken, but the flavor of the overall sauce was so good, I found it hard to stop eating. The great flavor also limits the amount of salt you'll need. 

Question: When Portuguese men grow old, are they called, "Portugeezers?"

Ingredients:

1 chicken, butterflied (often small chickens, like Cornish hens, are used by the Portuguese)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Spanish paprika
8 to 10 piri piri in brine, along with a tablespoon or so of the brine.
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

This chicken is commonly grilled in Portugal, but you can roast it in a 400 degree (F) oven. Blend all ingredients, except chicken, to a consistency you like. I like chunky sauces, but most recipes I've seen for this make the sauce fairly smooth. Lay the butterflied chicken in a shallow dish and pour the sauce over it. Turn the chicken and thoroughly coat it. Cover the dish and refrigerate several hours, up to 12 hours. Reserve the excess marinade sauce to baste the chicken if you're grilling it. If you keep any of the sauce for serving, you must heat it, as it had been in touch with raw poultry. I roasted the chicken in the same pan I used to marinade it, along with the excess marinade, and I spooned some of the sauce over the chicken 3 times during the cooking process. I let the chicken roast for about 65 minutes, to let the skin begin to show some charring. 

WORD HISTORY:
Geezer-This word is distantly related to English "wise" and "wit," but especially to the use of  "wise" as a suffix (examples: "likewise, clockwise"). It goes back to Indo European "weid," which had the notion "to see;" thus, "to know how to go, proceed." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wisaz," with the same meaning, and an altered form, "wiso," for a noun, with the meaning, "way, manner, custom, condition." ^ This gave Old Frankish, a Germanic dialect/language, "wisa," with the same meaning. This was borrowed/absorbed into Old French as "guise," with the same meaning, but including, "manner of dress," then later also, "manner of cover or cloak." This was borrowed into English in the latter part of the 1200s. From this was formed "guiser," meaning, "person in disguise, or wearing a mask." In London, some came to pronounce it as "geezer," and it simply meant, "a man" (during the 1500s?). In North America it took on the meaning "an old man" during the second half of the 1800s. It is an example of a Germanic word coming into English (a Germanic language) in an altered form from a non Germanic language.

^ The Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wise" (back then pronounced as today's word, but the ending "e" was pronounced "eh").