Sukuma Wiki

Kenya's everyday green that 'stretches the week': collard or kale shredded and braised with onion, tomato, and a little oil, brightened with lemon, the daily partner of the maize porridge ugali across East Africa

Origin: Kenya

From the journey of Kale.

Sukuma wiki is the everyday green of East Africa, eaten across Kenya and Tanzania at almost every meal, and its Swahili name says everything about its place in life: it means 'to push' or 'stretch the week', for this is the cheap, abundant, ever-available vegetable that stretches a household's food and money from one payday to the next. The leaf is a loose-leafed cole of Brassica oleracea, the broad collard properly called sukuma or true curly kale, brought to the cool, fertile East African highlands by British settlers in the colonial period and taken up so completely that it became, within a few generations, one of the most important vegetables of the region. The cooking is quick and thrifty: the leaves are stripped, finely shredded, and braised with onion, tomato, and a little oil into a soft, savoury relish, often sharpened with a squeeze of lemon and a little chilli. Above all it is the partner of ugali, the stiff white maize porridge that is the regional staple: a piece of ugali pinched off, pressed into a scoop, and used to gather up the greens and their juices is, for tens of millions of people, the daily meal. Humble, nourishing, and endlessly adaptable, sukuma wiki is the green that feeds East Africa.

Ingredients

The Greens

  • 700 g collard greens (sukuma) or kale, tough stems removed, finely shredded

The Pan

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 0.5 tsp ground cumin (optional)
  • 1 green chilli, finely chopped (optional)

To Finish

  • 0.5 lemon, juiced
  • salt, to taste

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until soft and beginning to colour.
  2. Add the garlic, the optional cumin, and the chilli, and fry for 1 minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until softened and pulpy.
  3. Add the shredded greens, season with salt, and stir well to coat. Add a splash of water, cover, and braise for 8 to 12 minutes, stirring now and then, until the greens are tender.
  4. Uncover and cook off any excess liquid for a minute or two, so the greens are moist but not watery. Squeeze over the lemon juice and adjust the salt.
  5. Serve hot, classically with ugali (stiff maize porridge) and perhaps some grilled meat (nyama choma), using the ugali to scoop up the greens.

Notes

Collard greens are the most authentic sukuma; curly kale, cavolo nero, the indigenous Ethiopian kale (Brassica carinata) that is also grown across the East African highlands, or even spring greens all work. The dish is naturally vegan and very economical, which is the source of its name and its place in daily life. For a Tanzanian coastal twist, finish with a little coconut milk; for more substance, some cooks add a beaten egg or a handful of cooked beans. Ugali, the stiff maize porridge, is the classic partner, but rice or chapati serve just as well.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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