Easy recipe: Succotash

Succotash, if you've never heard of it before, is a colourful and nutritious vegetable mix stew. The main ingredients that were used when it first became popular were corn and lima beans, then with time, people added their own spin to it with more vegetables and even meats.

Succotash was often the meal of choice doing the Great Depression when people were struggling financially. It was a staple because it was easy to make, and the ingredients were easily accessible.

Fast forward to modern times, people still enjoy this stew with different dishes, especially seafood cuisines. The vibrant colours make it the perfect meal to share with friends and family plus, you will also have a new alternative corn dish that is different from the usual githeri.

Don't let the name intimidate you because you can easily prepare your own succotash right at home with these steps:

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh boiled corn

1 cup fresh boiled lima beans

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1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 large white onion

1 large tomato

red bell pepper

green bell pepper

2 cloves fresh garlic

teaspoon paprika

Parsley

Black pepper

Olive oil

Salt

Instructions:

Start by prepping all your ingredients so you can have a more seamless cooking process.

For the onion, tomato and peppers, chop into medium-sized cubes. As for the garlic and parsley, dice finely. With the parsley, you should have at least an equivalent of two tablespoons after dicing.

Next, pour about four or five tablespoons of olive oil into a pan and let it heat up. Once it warms up, place the diced onions into your pan on low heat so they fry well without burning and stir occasionally for about five minutes.

When the onions are about halfway cooked, add the chopped garlic and stir occasionally. When the garlic becomes fragrant, add the bell peppers to the mix and let them saute for about five more minutes then add parsley, black pepper, paprika and salt.

After everything has been incorporated well, add one tablespoon of tomato paste give it enough time to cook well as you stir before adding tomatoes.

When everything has cooked well, it's time to add in the corn and beans. Make sure you give it a good mix so that everything is well distributed then add about two cups of water and let it cook for ten minutes for the flavors to combine.

Finally, give your succotash a taste test to confirm that the salt and spices have balanced well and make adjustments if you need to. Garnish with some more parsley leaves and serve with rice and any other meal of your choice like chicken or fish.

With this recipe, you can come up with as many unique combinations as you like. For example, you can use sweet corn instead of regular corn if you like a balance of both sweet and salty, and butter beans instead of lima beans.

You might also like to swap out the water for vegetable stock or, for a thicker texture, use some cooking cream.