From our kitchen
Recipe: Matapa, our Mozambican curry
Matapa is one of Mozambique’s best-loved dishes — tender cassava leaves slow-cooked with ground peanuts and coconut milk into a rich, creamy curry. We serve ours with prawns fresh from the bay and a good mound of coconut rice. Here’s how our kitchen makes it.
Ingredients
- 1 kg cassava leaves (or spinach), finely chopped
- 200 g raw peanuts, ground to a coarse flour
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 250 g fresh prawns, peeled (optional)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil
- Salt, to taste
Method
- Wash the cassava leaves well and chop or pound them finely. Put them in a large pot with the onion, garlic, oil, a pinch of salt and just enough water to cover.
- Simmer gently for 25–30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the leaves are soft.
- Stir in the ground peanuts and cook for another 10 minutes so they thicken the sauce.
- Pour in the coconut milk and add the prawns. Simmer gently for 10–15 minutes until creamy and the prawns are just cooked — don’t let it boil hard.
- Taste, add salt, and serve hot over coconut rice or with xima (maize porridge).
Chef’s tip: no cassava leaves? Young spinach or pumpkin leaves work beautifully. Cooking vegetarian? Leave out the prawns — the peanuts and coconut carry the dish.
