Yesterday Cambria shared a family recipe for African peanut stew, a celebratory dish made with beef, spices, and rich peanut butter. The classic side dish for this meal — and indeed, nearly any meal throughout much of eastern Africa — is sukuma wiki, braised greens with a very apt meaning to their name! Do you know what sukuma wiki means?

A meal in Kenya, with ugali, chapati, a meat stew, and sukuma wiki.
"Sukuma wiki" is a Swahili phrase meaning, depending on how you translate it, "week-pusher," "push the week," or "stretch the week." When I was in Kenya two years ago, I saw kale and collard greens growing in the dusty soil of nearly every home. Green frilly leaves dotted any patch of land that had enough water nearby to irrigate. Hearty greens are a staple of even the most frugal diet in the rural communities of Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, and other African nations. They are readily available, found in the most basic garden, and so they are used to "stretch the week," when other supplies have run out or meat is scarce.
Sukuma wiki can be found in many forms. Sometimes it is highly spiced, in the Indian-influenced cuisine of East Africa. Sometimes it is a very plain and basic dish of greens, with nothing but oil and a little onion to round it out. The version I ate most often in Kenya had onion, tomato, and a smattering of spices.
This may be plain family fare in Africa, even a subsistence food. It's what I like to think of as an "invisible food" both there and here, too plain to even mention. But for those of us who love greens and eat them regularly, this kind of basic, quotidian dish of simple greens is one of the building blocks of healthy weeknight meals. Make it any way you like — enjoy the taste and chew of robust greens. Here's how I make mine.

Sukuma Wiki (African Braised Kale with Tomatoes)
4 servings1 pound kale
2 medium tomatoes, about 1/2 pound
1 large white onion, about 1 pound
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, juiced, about 3 tablespoons
Chop the kale into rough 1-inch pieces, including the ribs. Roughly chop the tomatoes. (If desired, reserve about 1/4 cup fresh tomato pieces for garnish.) Peel and dice the onion.
Heat the oil in a large, deep pot, or a large wok. When it is hot, add the onion and cook for about 8 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. When the onion is getting soft, stir in the cumin, coriander, and turmeric. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes.
Add the greens one handful at a time, stirring constantly to coat them with the onions, oil, and spices. When they have all been added, sprinkle the salt and a generous amount of fresh pepper over them and stir.
Pour in 1 cup water. Cover the pot and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for 10 to 20 minutes, or until the greens are tender to your taste. (I like mine fairly toothsome, so I only cook them for about 10 minutes.)
Remove the lid, turn off the heat, and toss the greens with the lemon juice. Serve hot, garnished with extra tomato, if desired.
Related: Kenya Eating: Fish, Ugali, and Sukuma Wiki
(Images: Faith Durand)
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Comments (11)
I met a Rwandan lady not too long ago who was talking about sukuma wiki & told me where she comes from, it's made with sweet potato leaves. I was intrigued because I had always assumed they were poisonous, and also because there are many plants that are eaten in their entirety in Africa, while we tend to eat only one part & throw away the rest.
I have to say, this week is really inspiring me to look into African food. Looks delicious!
Can I sub the peanut oil? Possibly with canola + sesame oil or something?
Hi Red Pepper Flakes, Kenyans usually use shortening instead of peanut oil, but I made mine with mushroom olive oil (because it's healthier, and mushroom olive oil's earthiness and butteriness goes very well with bitter vegetables. http://7th-taste.com/2012/02/14/kenyan-kale-saute-sukuma-wiki-with-mushroom-olive-oil/ Rich Kenyans sometimes add stew beef meats to this dish (nyama choma). If you like meats, try this kale dish with nyama choma:-) Happy cooking!
@RED PEPPER FLAKES, yep - I just use peanut oil because that's what I have around. @BAKINGSTONE, I've seen this made with all kinds of other greens, too! Cassava is another commonly-used green in African cooking.
I have Swiss chard in the garden I am going to give it a try tonight in place of the kale.
going to get a little bit more specific than "African" cooking, as it is a gigantic continent after all with diverse topography and climates. kenyan food. ah, kenyan food! my kenyan mum makes the best, best best best vegetarian food. curried kale with her own house made curry. lentils. peanut sauce. stewed beans. rice with everything! tomato and onion salad marinated in vinegar. currently she's on a stewed amaranth kick. ugali (water and masa farina prepared in place of rice) and stewed cabbage with carrots is such amazing comfort food.
my mouth is watering seeing these photos and thinking of my mum's fragrant, beautiful, not to mention HEALTHY kitchen. after living on 4 continents she keeps saying that cooking in the western kitchen is just not the same, and that she can't get used to it even after living outside her homeland for over half her life. in kenyan homes in the rift valley daily vegetables are grown in home gardens! how awesome. kenyan fare is very sustainable and unbelievably healthy (minus the sweetened tea w/ milk taken all day)-- most of the worlds fastest marathon runners eat traditional kenyan diets and get their full nutrients this way. a lesson for us westerners looking to eat right without dieting! the key is flavour, flavour flavour. spices and herbs are used in every dish.
its so fun watching my mzungu dad in the kitchen, an AMAZING cook with a diverse repertoire, but rarely veers from written recipes, cook beside my mum, who improvises just about everything but has a focused tried and true list of ingredients which never fails her. i feel so lucky to have grown up with such a diverse palette and to have learned my way around the kitchen through both improv and honed technique.
nice to see this on here. my husband is kenyan and we eat sukuma wiki often - definitely a staple of the diet. thanks for featuring this dish!
like @art_brutale said, Africa is a HUGE continent with a myriad of cooking traditions. That being said, braised greens+tomatoes+onions are my favorite quick and easy recipes from my trips to East Africa. My family has always done greens, but adding other veggies and changing the cooking method is something I "passed up" to my grandma and she loves it too.
@bakingstone, sweet potato leaves are my absolute favorite green; they're hard to find but easy to grow on your own (you may have to search a little for organic or farm-fresh sweet potatoes that haven't been treated not to sprout.) They have a similar texture to spinach when cooked but a mild, almost buttery flavor without a hint of bitterness. REGULAR potato leaves are poisonous, sweet potatoes are fantastic.
Yes! when I lived in Rwanda, we had sweet potato leaves for this type of dish, as well as amaranth (dodo), which grew everywhere.
This is absolutely delicious, I did not add the water, just added the kale after washing, without drying.