KWEKU SUMBYR’S CACHUPA OF BEANS & HOMINY SLOW HEART
Kweku’s Cachupa // Kweku Sumbry
Recipe
Ingredients (serves 20 people):
Dry hominy corn — 5 lb
(or 8–10 cans hominy)Mixed beans (any combination: navy, cranberry, lima, rock.. etc)— 5 lb total
Onion — 6 medium onions (about 4 lb)
Tomatoes — 8 medium tomatoes (about 4 lb)
Garlic — 6 cloves
Tomato Paste - 1 small can
Bell peppers — 3 large peppers (about 2 lb)
Cabbage or kale — 2 small heads cabbage or 3 large bunches kale (about 3 lb)
Olive oil — ½ cup
Bay leaves — 4 leaves
Smoked Paprika — 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Black pepper - to taste
Scotch bonnet pepper or Habanero pepper - 1 (add whole, not cut open and take out when serve)
Today is a day for slow cooking. Hominy, navy beans, cranberry beans, and lima beans - soaked since the day before - are ready to be transformed.
A stew of this scale feels almost orchestral, as if it could feed an entire ensemble and still leave enough for the next day. From the morning, onions, four of them, and garlic are gently sautéed until soft and fragrant. Tomato paste and smoked paprika are added, deepening the color and aroma.Vegetable broth is poured in, and the hominy goes first.
Just then, a call comes in - from Kweku’s mother. It is early morning where she is, having just returned from Guinea to Washington, DC. Yet her voice is bright, composed, and beautiful. She explains that this stew is traditionally prepared for Cape Verde’s Independence Day—a dish meant for gathering, made in large pots, shared among many.
Kweku Sumbry with his daughter and his mom.
Usually, smoked turkey, beef sausage, or turkey neck would be added to build depth in her version. But today, it is made without meat. Instead, smoked paprika carries the weight, joined by cassava, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, Scotch bonnet pepper, and generous amounts of kale.
And then, the most important element—bay leaf. The first thing she asks over the phone: “Did you add the bay leaf?”. It must not be forgotten.
Throughout the afternoon, I asked Kweku to taste the stew again and again. Each time, he would close his eyes, taking a quiet moment to truly taste. He is playful, full of light, and easy in his presence. And yet, in those brief moments with his eyes closed, another layer reveals itself - a stillness, a seriousness, a quiet sincerity that runs beneath it all.
All afternoon, the pot simmered slowly, quietly. The flavors deepen, layer by layer. What emerges is something complex - smoky, heavy, grounded - a taste of the continent.
-Yurie Ito
Getting cooking instructions from Kweku’s family.
