Cabo Verde: Cachupa

This was absolutely bang on delicious. Honestly, it was also a bit of a relief. African food is great, but I think there would quite a few more options if I wasn't catering to someone with a peanut allergy - peanuts are a very common foodstuffs, which makes it difficult to find recipes, and ESPECIALLY vegetarian recipes - most vege recipes I've found when exploring various African cuisines are a peanut soup, or something that uses peanut butter. And while I'd be able to cook something like this for myself, it wouldn't work for the blog which is vegetarian AND nut-free.

So to cook something like cachupa was a relief. No nuts, no meat. It commonly is actually cooked with meat but there's also the option of using fish, which is what I chose to do. Actually, cachupa seems like a pretty diverse meal as each Cabo Verde island has their own recipe or way of making it.

This came together in about 30 minutes, and all in one pot (I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is one of my favourite ways to cook). My recipe called for 250g cabbage but I only had a teeny bit left so I just threw it in - if you have more, add it.

Fish Cachupa
Serves 3

Ingredients

• 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 a cabbage, thinly sliced (I used about 1/4 cabbage and that was fine too)
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 3 garlic gloves, crushed
• Fresh coriander, chopped
• 250mL fish stock
• 2 large potatoes, chopped into 1cm dice
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 250g fish, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 teaspoons cumin 
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat and fry onions until golden. Add fish stock to the pot and stir well. 
2. Add potatoes and cabbage. Cover pan with lid and cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender but not quite fully cooked. Stir in the tomato puree and season with salt, pepper, garlic, coriander and cumin. 
3. Bring to a simmer, add chickpeas and then the fish. Stir stew gently to avoid breaking the fish chunks. Add a little more water if it seems too dry. 
4. Cover pan with a lid, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 5-10 minutes until the fish is cooked.