Nampula Staple · Cowpea Stew

Feijão Nhemba (Cowpea Stew)

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Both the bean and its leaves get eaten — farmers around Nampula cook the young cowpea leaves as a vegetable long before the pods are ready to harvest.

Cowpeas (feijão nhemba) are simmered slowly with onion, tomato, and oil until soft, sometimes with young leaves added as greens. It's a cheap, filling side dish ladled alongside xima at market lunch counters.

Why it's made this way: Cowpeas tolerate Nampula's sandy soil and unreliable rains far better than maize, making them one of the province's most important subsistence crops and a daily fixture on local plates.

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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.