Samp and beans recipe page: for more braai feast dishes, go to braai menu or the home page.

There are two samp and beans recipes below, the simple recipe and the flavoured recipe.

Umngqusho - samp and beans recipe

A traditional preferred dish of the Xhosa people of South Africa and purported to be the favourite dish of Nelson Mandela.

The word samp is derived from the Afrikaans word stampmielies (stamp) meaning crushed maize (corn) and in this case the white African maize. The dried kernels are broken to make the corn easier to cook and eat. It is often eaten as an accompaniment to a braai, the South African barbecue. A lot of people love it and eat it on a daily basis, some people think it is like eating soft teeth.

As with almost any cultural signature dish, there is no definitive recipe, or as many definitive recipes as cooks. The simplest version is a mixture of samp and sugar beans - twice as much samp as beans - soaked overnight in water and then boiled until tender and flavoured with salt, pepper and butter or fat. The more complicated version includes chilies, lemon and potatoes in addition to the samp and beans. I give samples of both dishes below.

Simple samp and beans recipe

Time

• 12-16 hours of effortless soaking.
• 1.5 - 2 hours of slow simmering.

Feeds

• 10 Hungry workers.

Tools

• Potjie (three-legged black cast-iron pot) or any large fireproof container, for that matter.
• Long-handled wooden spoon or, lacking that, a stick.
• A small fire.

Fixings

The ingredients are according to the bag sizes they are sold in and can be proportionally reduced to feed fewer fellows.

Fire

• Soak the samp and beans overnight in water.
• Next day drain the water, put the soaked samp and beans in the potjie, cover with fresh water, bring to the boil.
• Simmer for about an hour and a half until the ingredients are tender. Add water as needed.
• When the samp and beans are ready, take it off the fire and stir in the fat or butter. Add salt and pepper.
• Eat as accompaniment to meat off the braai and sauce.

Flavoured samp and beans recipe

Time

• 12-16 hours of effortless soaking.
• 1.5 - 2 hours of slow simmering.

Feeds

• 10 Hungry workers.

Tools

• Potjie (three-legged black cast-iron pot) or any large fireproof container, for that matter.
• Long-handled wooden spoon or, lacking that, a stick.
• A small fire.

Fixings

The ingredients for this samp and beans recipe are according to the bag sizes they are sold in and can be proportionally reduced to feed fewer fellows.

Fire

• Soak the samp and beans overnight in water.
• Next day chop up the onions and chilies and brown in the bottom of the potjie with some butter or fat.
• Drain the water off the samp and beans, add to the potjie, cover with fresh water, bring to the boil.,
• Simmer for about an hour and a half until the ingredients are tender. Add water as needed.
• When the samp and beans are ready, take it off the fire and stir in more fat or butter if needed. Add salt and pepper and lemon juice.
• Eat as accompaniment to meat off the braai and sauce with long sighs of satisfaction.

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