Nelson Mandela’s Heirloom Recipe
Umngsqusho & Chicken Curry
Recipe Vault Rating: 9.9/10
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Serves: 4-6
Pans Required: Old Dutch
Welcome back to Heirloom Recipes. The Ironclad series that explores the everyday meals behind extraordinary lives.
We’ve simmered Johnny Cash’s chilli, slurped Al Capone’s spaghetti, and baked the Pope’s childhood biscuits. Today, we travel to Qunu in the Eastern Cape to cook a dish that sat at the centre of countless family tables, homecomings, and celebrations.
Samp and beans.
One of Nelson Mandela’s favourites.
Long before he became a symbol of freedom, Mandela was a boy who herded cattle, fetched water, and came home hungry from long days running through the hills. Samp and beans was the meal that greeted him. A dish he often spoke about as the taste of home, and the comfort he longed for during his 27 years in prison.
Mandela was known to love three things on a plate: samp and beans, chicken, and a good curry.
So today we’ve brought them together.
This version, passed through kitchens across South Africa, has been adapted for Ironclad by our chef Felicity. A slow-cooked bed of samp and creamy sugar beans, topped with sweet, smoky orange chicken curry, grilled until the peppers blister. A recipe built for feeding many, sharing often, and reheating well.
From Qunu to Robben Island to the Union Buildings, samp and beans followed him throughout his life. A reminder of who he was before the world decided who he should be.
Serve generously.
Ingredients
THE SAMP AND BEANS
3 c quick-cook samp, soaked for 2 hours and rinsed
25 g butter
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 celery stick, finely sliced
1 bulb garlic, finely sliced
3 bay leaves
5 c chicken stock (homemade if you can)
1 c coconut cream
1 can sugar beans
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley or coriander, to serve
THE CHICKEN CURRY
700 g chicken breasts
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
Lots of black pepper
3 tbsp sunflower oil
¾ c chutney of your choice
½ c mayonnaise
1½ c freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp curry powder
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 green pepper, roughly chopped
Method
Heat oven to 160°C.
In your Old Dutch Pot, melt the butter and sauté the onion, celery, garlic, and bay leaves until soft but not browned.
Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cover with the lid and bake for 60 minutes.
Remove from the oven, stir in the coconut cream, and season with salt and pepper.
Return to the oven, covered, for another 30 minutes.
Stir in the sugar beans, cover with a tea towel, and set aside while you cook the chicken.
Slice each chicken breast into six chunks. Coat with the garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper.
Heat the sunflower oil in the lid of your Old Dutch until almost smoking, then fry the chicken pieces until golden. Reduce the heat.
Mix together the chutney, mayonnaise, orange juice, and curry powder. Pour over the chicken and stir well.
Preheat oven to grill. Scatter the peppers over the chicken and grill for 10–15 minutes, or until the peppers are blistered and charred.
Serve the chicken curry on top of the samp and beans and finish with a generous sprinkle of chopped parsley or coriander.
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Heirloom Recipes is an independent editorial series inspired by recipes and stories in the public domain. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any individual, family, or estate featured. These recipes are our adaptations, created with care and respect for the lives behind them.
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