Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter)
Collard greens folded into a creamy peanut-butter sauce, Zimbabwe’s everyday pairing for sadza.
Zimbabwean · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 25 min
~524 cal · 14g protein · 69g carbs · 25g fat · 8g fiber · 6g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Muriwo unedovi is a homely Zimbabwean staple: leafy greens, usually covo, rape, or collards, with tomato and onion and then enriched with a spoonful of peanut butter, which melts into the pot to make the greens creamy, nutty, and satisfying. 'Dovi' is the Shona word for peanut butter, a staple ingredient across the country.
The dish reflects a broader southern African love of groundnuts and the resourceful way rural kitchens turn simple garden greens into something nourishing and full-flavored on a small budget. It is everyday food, cooked in homes around Harare and across the countryside far more often than in any restaurant.
It is almost always eaten with sadza, the thick white maize-meal porridge that is Zimbabwe's staple, pinched into pieces by hand and used to scoop up the peanut-rich greens. Humble and vegetarian by default, it is the taste of a Zimbabwean home kitchen.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, 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 4
2 big bunches collard greens or kale, ribboned
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, sliced
2 cups white maize meal (for sadza)
2 tbsp
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Make sadza: whisk maize meal into 4 cups simmering salted water and beat over low heat 15 minutes until stiff and smooth; shape and keep warm.
2
Fry the onion in oil; add tomatoes and cook down 5 minutes.
3
Loosen the peanut butter with a little water and stir it into the onion and tomato until you have a smooth, consistent sauce, scraping the bottom of the pan.
✎ Chef’s note
Get the peanut butter into the tomato and onion before the greens go in. Added afterwards it never disperses properly and a layer of it catches and sticks on the bottom of the pan.
4
Add the ribboned greens with salt, turn them through the sauce until every leaf is coated, then cover and simmer on the lowest heat 5 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Rape, tsunga or covo (collard greens) are the usual leaves. The sauce looks thick when the peanut butter goes in and thins as it cooks, so do not be tempted to flood it with water at the start.
5
Season and serve beside the sadza, pinch, roll, dent, scoop.
Harare home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Harare. Harare's tables are built on sadza, a stiff white maize porridge eaten by hand and pressed into relish. Alongside it come slow-cooked beef stew, peanut-buttered greens, and muriwo, the leafy garden vegetables that give the meal its balance.
🗺️
Zimbabwe. Peanut butter is used as a cooking fat and a thickener rather than a spread, stirred into greens, pumpkin leaves and porridge, and it is the base of dovi, the peanut stew. Madora, the mopane worm, is dried and rehydrated or fried and eaten as a protein-dense snack, and it is farmed and traded seriously rather than as a curiosity.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Zimbabwe
BotaA soft, thin maize-meal breakfast porridge enriched with peanut butter and a little sugar.
Nyama ne SadzaBeef stewed with tomato and onion served with stiff maize sadza, the everyday heart of the Zimbabwean table.
Chikenduza (Candy Cakes)Soft, yeasted sweet cakes baked tall and finished with a bright pink glaze, a Zimbabwean bakery treat.
Browse all Zimbabwe recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Zimbabwe meal
MaheuDrink
Chikenduza (Candy Cakes)Dessert
Nyama ne SadzaLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter)?
Collard greens folded into a creamy peanut-butter sauce, Zimbabwe’s everyday pairing for sadza.
Where does Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter) come from?
Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter) is a Zimbabwean dish from Harare, Zimbabwe.
Can Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter) 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 Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter) 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 Muriwo Unedovi (Greens in Peanut Butter) take to make?
About 35 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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