Let's Cook Mucapata!

The other evening, some friends from the provincial capitial of Zambezia, Quelimane, showed me how to make a dish called mucapata.  This dish is only found in Quelimane, where the Chuabo ethnic group resides. This mushy paste that looks like hummus, is one of my favorite Mozambican dishes.  This is usually eaten with grilled chicken or/and a curry dish.

Time: Approximately 2 1/2 hours

1 cup dried split peas

2 cups rice

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups coconut milk

You will need a medium-size pan with a lid.  You will also need to buy coconut milk or make your own coconut milk.

People in Mozambique tend to make coconut milk by first shaving the coconut meat using a stool that has a metal piece with sharp ridges attached to it. Then, by rigorously sliding the coconut meat over the metal piece, coconut shavings fall into a bowl. 

Next, they pour water on top of the coconut pieces and mash the shavings with their hands and the water becomes milky. Everything in the bowl is poured into a strainer. Voilà, fresh coconut milk!

After the coconut milk is ready, add the coconut milk to the pan and let it boil. Do not stop stirring, otherwise it will burn and ruin the consistency of the coconut milk.









When it starts to boil, add the lentils, rice, and salt to the mix and keep stirring until it boils.  When it boils, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot for about 5 minutes and stir again . Keep stirring and make sure that the mix is not sticking to the base of the pot. Burned mucapata is not that tasty! At some point, you may have to add about four cups of water to the pot because the rice and lentils will start absorbing the coconut milk. You may let the pot sit at times, but keep an eye on the mucapata every 5 minutes or so, and continue to stir sporadically until the consistency is thick and no longer falls off the stirrer.  

You can also enjoy it with some hot sauce if your stomach can handle it.  I made piri piri, which is a hot pepper grown here and I added lemon juice from two lemons, salt and garlic.

There you have it, amigos.  I hope you enjoy making this traditional food from central Mozambique!