Umngqusho

Ingredients

• 400 g samp (coarsely cracked white maize)
• 200 g sugar beans or red speckled beans
• 2 litres water
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 green chilli, chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 chicken or beef stock cube
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 30 g butter

Before you cook

• Rinse the samp and beans together in several changes of water until the water runs clear
• Soak them overnight in plenty of cold water, then drain them
• Chop the onion, garlic and chilli, and dice the potatoes

Steps

1. Put the drained samp and beans in a large heavy pot and cover them with two litres of fresh water.
2. Bring the pot to a boil, then drop the heat to a steady simmer.
3. Skim off the grey foam that rises during the first ten minutes.
4. Set the lid slightly ajar and simmer for one and a half hours, topping up with boiling water whenever the grains break the surface.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the chopped onion for six minutes until golden.
6. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for one minute.
7. Scrape the onion mixture into the pot along with the diced potato, the crumbled stock cube, the salt and the pepper.
8. Simmer uncovered for forty minutes, stirring often as it thickens so nothing catches on the base.
9. Keep cooking until the samp grains have burst open and the beans are collapsing, adding a splash of boiling water if it stiffens too far.
10. Beat in the butter, taste for salt, and serve with stewed meat or braaied chops.