Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Umncushu
Swazi samp and beans: dried maize kernels and sugar beans slow-boiled together until soft and creamy, a homely Eswatini staple.
Swazi · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 120 min
~289 cal · 5g protein · 39g carbs · 14g fat · 2g fiber · 36g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Umncushu is Eswatini's and beans, dried, pounded maize kernels () simmered for hours with sugar beans until both turn soft, creamy, and comforting. Cooked low and slow with little more than water, onion, and salt, it is a filling, thrifty plate eaten from breakfast onwards.
Maize and beans are the twin pillars of the Swazi table, and cooking them together makes a complete, protein-rich meal from humble pantry staples. A knob of butter or a spoon of oil stirred in at the end gives it a gentle richness.
Slow-cooked and deeply homely, umncushu is the kind of pot that away on the stove and feeds a whole family across Mbabane and the Swazi countryside.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 cups (dried, crushed maize kernels), soaked overnight
1 cup dried sugar beans, soaked overnight
1/2 cup raw peanuts (groundnuts), crushed
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp butter or oil
to taste salt
as needed water
Instructions
1
Drain the soaked samp and beans and put them in a large pot with plenty of fresh water.
2
Bring to a boil, then simmer partly covered, topping up the water, until both are very soft, about 1.5 to 2 hours.
3
Stir in the onion and salt in the last 20 minutes, then lightly mash and stir through the crushed peanuts (or seeds) until thick and creamy.
4
Stir through the butter or oil and serve warm.
Swazi homestead cooking, Mbabane highlands.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Mbabane. Sorghum was here before maize and has not gone anywhere: it is ground for porridge and brewed into the traditional beer that appears at ceremonies. Pumpkin leaves cooked with groundnut are the everyday green, and the highlands are cool enough that this is warming food rather than tropical.
🗺️
Eswatini. The occasions have names. Umhlanga, the reed dance, and Incwala, the kingship ceremony, are the gatherings that food is made for in quantity, and sorghum beer is brewed for them rather than bought. Between them, the everyday plate is maize porridge with whatever greens and beans the season gives, cooked in one pot over wood.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Eswatini
Swazi Chicken Stew with PhutuA homey Eswatini chicken stew in tomato and onion, served with crumbly steamed maize phutu.
SidvudvuSweet pumpkin cooked down with maize meal into a smooth, comforting porridge, a traditional Eswatini favorite.
IncwancwaEswatini's sour fermented maize porridge, tangy from a day or two of natural souring and eaten spoonable or thinned to a drink.
Browse all Eswatini recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Thickens as it sits. Reheat with extra water or milk to loosen, and keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Make it a Eswatini meal
KoeksistersDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Umncushu?
Swazi samp and beans: dried maize kernels and sugar beans slow-boiled together until soft and creamy, a homely Eswatini staple.
Where does Umncushu come from?
Umncushu is a Swazi dish from Mbabane, Eswatini.
Can Umncushu be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Umncushu recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Umncushu safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Umncushu take to make?
About 135 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 120 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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