🍽️ Cuisine
Cabo Verdean cuisine blends African, Portuguese, and Brazilian influences into hearty dishes suited to island life. Corn, beans, and fresh seafood form the foundation.
Cachupa
National Stew
Hearty stew of corn, beans, and meat—Cabo Verde's soul food. This recipe serves two.
Ingredients: 240ml hominy corn, 120ml beans, mixed varieties, 200g pork or sausage, 1 sweet potato, 1 banana, Cabbage, Bay leaf.
Preparation: Soak corn and beans overnight. Simmer with meat until almost tender. Add sweet potato and banana. Then cook until everything is soft. Mash slightly for thick texture. Last, serve topped with fried egg.
💡 Rich cachupa uses meat; poor cachupa is vegetarian.
Caldo de Peixe
Fish Stew
Fresh fish stew with tomatoes and banana—island home cooking. This recipe serves two.
Ingredients: 300g firm white fish, 2 tomatoes, 1 green banana, 1 potato, 1 onion, Cilantro, Garlic, bay leaf.
Preparation: Sautingé onion and garlic. Add tomatoes, cook down. Add potatoes, banana, water. Then simmer until almost tender. Add fish, cook 10 min. Finish with cilantro.
💡 The green banana adds starch to thicken the broth.
Pastéis de Atum
Tuna Turnovers
Crispy pastries filled with spiced tuna—popular snack. This recipe serves two.
Ingredients: For dough: 480ml flour, butter, water, For filling: 1 can tuna, onion, tomato, olives, egg, Oil for frying.
Preparation: Make pastry dough, rest. Sauté filling ingredients. Roll dough, cut circles. Then fill and fold into half-moons. Deep fry until golden. Drain and serve hot.
💡 Seal edges well or they'll open during frying.
Cachupa: The national dish – a slow-cooked stew of corn, beans, and vegetables, often with fish or meat. Cachupa rica (rich cachupa) includes sausage, bacon, and more protein. Cachupa guisado is fried leftover cachupa. Every household has its own recipe.
Seafood: Fresh fish is abundant – tuna, wahoo, grouper, lobster. Buzio (sea snail) is a local delicacy. Caldeirada de peixe (fish stew) features heavily. Seafood restaurants line the coasts.
Drinks: Grogue (sugarcane rum) is the spirit of choice, often mixed with honey as ponche. Strela is the local beer. Portuguese wine is widely available. Fresh fruit juices from mango, papaya, and passion fruit refresh.
Sweets: Doce de coco (coconut sweet), doce de papaia, and Portuguese-influenced pastries satisfy sweet cravings.
