Sunday Lunch · Setswana Chicken Stew
Koko ya Setswana (Setswana Chicken Stew)
Photo: WomanON / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
The name simply means 'Setswana-style chicken' — a label that distinguishes slow, home-style stewing from the fried or grilled chicken sold everywhere else in the capital.
Chicken pieces are browned then simmered low and slow with onion, tomato, carrots and cabbage in a rich, spiced gravy until the meat falls off the bone. In Gaborone it's the classic Sunday family meal, dished up over phaleche (stiff maize porridge) at home kitchens and small eateries around the city.
Why it's made this way: As Gaborone urbanised around cattle-post and farm life, chicken became an affordable everyday protein, and this stew became the household counterpart to the more ceremonial beef seswaa.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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