What's Up World: South African Vegetable and Bean Stew

Welcome to week 4 of our What’s Up World series—each week my children and I read about a different county and cook a meal from that location. Our travels this week took us down to South Africa, a country that’s on my personal bucket list to visit one day (and for now, this will have to do!). We read about the idea that South Africa is sometimes called the rainbow country because people from so many different countries have settled there. You could say the same about the city where my family lives, too—we’re a part of a community where there is a lot of diversity of race, nationality, and religion—and I appreciated the opportunity to reinforce what I always tell my children at home: that God made everyone different and everyone special. In the book, the narrator's meal choices also hit home—he ate cereal for breakfast and macaroni and cheese for lunch. And then we got to the narrator’s dinner and the kids almost fell out of their seats. On his family table was tripe, a disguised word for sheep stomach. My kids begged me that the meal we choose to make NOT be tripe, and I agreed that it was something that none of us could stomach (<—see what I did there?).

So instead I consulted with my friend Sharon from www.cookingwithkidsNY.com who teaches international cooking classes and whose trips have taken her around the globe. She suggested that we make Githeri, an African stew made of beans, vegetables and spices. It sounded perfect!

Admittedly, this recipe required a lot of chopping, but my kids didn't mind one bit. The boys are thrilled any time they get to use their knives (we use these kid-friendly ones from Curious Chef), and they went to work chopping up peppers and scallions while I handled the the heartier potatoes and carrots.

Once the veggies were all in the pot, we took turns smelling spices: curry, ginger, and coconut cream. I love watching their reaction. My 3 year old loved the smell of the curry while my 6 year  old wrinkled up his nose at the same smell. They both agreed that coconut cream was something we should  have every day, and it was hard to get them to stop sneaking tastes.

Lastly, we dumped everything in a slow cooker and let it do its thing. On busy summer days it’s such a treat to come home to a done dinner and spend an extra half hour at the park rather than forcing everyone to retreat early so I can cook.

For fun, I served this over alphabet-shaped pasta, but rice, quinoa or pita bread would make a nice substitution.

Getting kids to eat new flavors can be challenging, but getting them involved in the cooking process almost always guarantees that they'll try it.  If I were to serve this blindly, I can bet that it would have been a struggle for them to take a bite. But this time, they ate it happily and proudly showed my husband what they had made.

I too enjoyed the flavors and I plan to experiment with other vegetables depending on what's in season. This meal would freeze easily, so you could even make it in bulk and then freeze a portion for the future.

But for now, we're closing out our chapter in South Africa, and flying back to Asia. China, we're coming for you!

GITHERI (vegetable and bean stew) makes 6 servings

Ingredients: 2 ears of corn, cut off the cob (or 2 cups of frozen corn kernals 2 cans of pinto or kidney beans* 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes 1 onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 2" ginger, peeled and grated 3 scallions, sliced 1 potato, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped 1 tbsp curry powder 1 1/2 cups of coconut cream 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper handful of cilantro, chopped (additional ingredients only needed if cooking on a stovetop) 1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp olive oil 1 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

Directions: (for the slow cooker) Add all ingredients to a slow cooker through cilantro and mix well. Set on low and cook for 8 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with cilantro.

(for the stovetop) Heat a large dutch oven on medium heat and add the vegetable oil and butter. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add curry powder and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add tomato puree to the pot. Reduce the heat to a low simmer for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens a bit. Add the potato, pepper, carrots, scallion, corn, beans, vegetable stock, coconut cream, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add cilantro and cook several minutes for the flavors to mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*Traditional canned beans contain a high amount of sodium. Rinse before using or look for low sodium or organic beans instead.