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Mucapata
Coconut rice and cowpeas
Mucapata: Zambézia's soft rice and cowpeas simmered thick in coconut milk
Quelimane cooks have a gift for making rice taste rich without a scrap of meat, and mucapata proves it: rice and boiled cowpeas are cooked down in coconut milk until the grains swell, burst at the edges and bind into a soft, spoonable mass. It sits somewhere between a pilaf and a porridge, mild and faintly sweet from the coconut, with the beans giving it body and an earthy note. Families along the Zambezi delta serve it at lunch beside a tomato and onion sauce, greens cooked with peanuts, or a fiery dab of piri-piri. The usual mistake is adding the rice before the beans are properly soft; they never catch up once the coconut milk goes in. Chef's tip: stir it only now and then once the rice is in and keep the heat very low, so the bottom turns lightly golden rather than scorched.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 7 oz dried black-eyed peassoaked in cold water for 6–8 hours or overnight, drained
- 5 cups waterfor the beans
- 10 ½ oz long-grain white ricerinsed until the water runs clear
- 3 ¼ cups coconut milktwo 400 ml tins
- 1 onionfinely chopped
- 2 cloves garliccrushed
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Put the soaked 7 oz dried black-eyed peas in a heavy pot with the 5 cups water and the 1 bay leaf. Bring to the boil over a high heat and skim off the grey foam.
5 minStep 2: Lower the heat and simmer, partly covered, until the beans are tender and crush easily between two fingers but still hold their shape.
25 minStep 3: Drain the beans, keeping 200 ml of the cooking water. Pick out the bay leaf.
Step 4: Return the beans to the pot with the 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 3 ¼ cups coconut milk and the saved bean water. Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat.
4 minStep 5: Stir in the 10 ½ oz long-grain white rice and 1 ½ tsp salt. Once it bubbles again, turn the heat to its lowest and cover.
2 minStep 6: Cook for 15 minutes, lifting the lid only twice to give it a slow stir from the bottom, until the liquid has almost gone and the rice is very soft.
15 minStep 7: Take the lid off and beat gently with a wooden spoon for a minute so some of the rice and beans break and the pot turns thick and creamy. Taste for salt and serve hot.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 610 kcal
- Protein
- 17 g
- Carbs
- 82 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fibre
- 9 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does mucapata take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of long-grain white rice?
- Any long-grain rice, same amount.
- What can I use instead of coconut milk?
- Single cream, same amount (not dairy free).
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