Last Updated on November 10, 2021 by Chef Mireille
Githeri – Kenyan Vegetable Bean Stew is a hearty one pot meal that is perfect for Meatless Monday.
I have taken over managing a Food Blogger Recipe Swap monthly event. It is a great way to encourage the food blogging community and make some new friends in the process. Not to mention, discovering some new recipes in the process.
I hope you enjoy my take on these recipes I will be presenting from other bloggers.
This month I am cooking from Mayuri’s Jikoni. I am very familiar with Mayuri due to our membership in another group and was excited to cook from her blog. Mayuri lives in Kenya and so you will find a diverse mix of Indian, African and international recipes on her blog.
Since we are coming up on Black History Month in February, I decided I wanted to cook up my version of one of her African recipes.
I quickly decided upon Githeri – a healthy vegetable stew of beans and vegetables. Although meat is sometimes added to the stew, with all the beans, I felt it had enough protein in it and additional meat was not necessary. This is a great option for Meatless Monday.
Githeri is a Kenyan recipe and by the way, if you would like to learn a little more about Kenyan food, you should check out one of my favorite You Tube channels – migrationology. He travels all over the world and eats – now isn’t that a great job! Anyway, he did a series on Kenya and Kenyan street food – I think you will enjoy the video as much as I did!
This is not the first time I have explored Kenyan cuisine. Do check out my other Kenyan recipes for Potato Bhajia (Potato Fritters) & Chicken Mung Bean Stew.
White Corn
In Africa, white corn is more popular than the sweet yellow corn we have here in America. Since fresh white corn is not available here, I had to decide what were the best substitutes I could come up with. There are two options we have here:
- Hominy Corn – Hominy corn is basically what grits are made from and is also used in the popular Mexican soup, pozole. You can usually find cans of hominy corn in the canned bean section of the supermarket.
- Choclo Corn – Choclo is a type of white corn from South America. It has very large kernels. You can usually find choclo either dried or frozen in Latin American markets like Mi Tierra, here in the NYC area. I used this chocle corn in my Githeri – Kenyan Vegetable Bean Stew.
Other than the corn, most of the other ingredients are readily available.
Variations
What’s great is that this recipe is so customizable to what you have on hand. I used white kidney beans but any beans can be used like black beans, navy beans, black eyed peas, cranberry beans or any other firm bean. I used pumpkin, but other starchy vegetables like plantain, breadfruit or cassava (yuca) can also be used.
You can even make this come together faster by using all canned beans if you like!
HOW TO MAKE GITHERI – KENYAN VEGETABLE BEAN STEW
- Saute onions and garlic.
- Add tomatoes and cook until mushy.
- Add pumpkin, cooked beans, corn, water and at the last stage, you add spinach.
What a delicious, hearty and filling stew!
With very basic simple ingredients and just a few spices, they create a marriage of delicious flavors.
Simple and quick and yet oh so delicious!
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Githeri – Kenyan Vegetable Bean Stew
Ingredients
Bean Ingredients
- 1/2 cup canneloni/ white kidney beans soaked overnight
- 1/2 cup frozen white corn choclo or hominy
- 2 garlic cloves
Stew Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 chopped onion
- 5 finely chopped garlic cloves
- 2 finely chopped tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup canned pigeon peas frozen can also be used
- 1 cup chopped pumpkin
- 1 cup baby spinach
Instructions
- To make the beans, combine beans and garlic in a large pot of water.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and cook until beans are tender, approximately 1 hour.
- Add corn and simmer another 5 minutes, until heated through.
- Drain and set aside.
- In a large pot, heat oil.
- Add onion and garlic and saute until softened.
- Add tomatoes, coriander, cumin, turmeric and salt.
- Cover and cook on medium low heat for 5-10 minutes, until tomatoes are very soft and mushy.
- Add cooked beans/corn, pigeon peas, pumpkin and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until pumpkin is fork tender.
- Add spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted.
- Serve warm.
Notes
Prep time can be eliminated if you use canned beans.
Instead of pumpkin, cassava (yuca), plantain or breadfruit can also be used.
Meat can also be added to the stew if desired.
Nutrition
Do check out the other delicious recipes from this month’s Recipe Swap!
Recipe Swap Recipes
- Kerala Curried Rice
- Cantaloupe Carrot Beet Smoothie
- Pumpkin Chia Popsicles
- Green Apple Mocktail Martini
- Double Bean Sriracha Hummus
- Instant Semolina Idli
- Homemade Rice Flour
- Vegan Pumpkin Falafel
- Instant Ragi Idli
- Blueberry Cardamom Lemon Muffins
- Chocolate Bread
- Fresh Chickpea Salad – Hara Chana Chaat
- Garlic Chutney Powder
Don’t forget to visit the RECIPE INDEX with over 1000 recipes from around the world including lots of Vegetarian Recipes and Gluten Free Recipes!
This looks so delicious! Such a warm and hearty soup! For sure going to have to give it a try!
thank you – yes it is so simple yet so delicious!
The stew looks absolutely delicious! Love that you have used so many vegetables and lentils in there. So nutritious!
thank you – yes it is both healthy and delicious!
This stew looks hearty and delicious and would be perfect to serve for lunch with some crusty bread to mop up the juices. I love the flavours in it.
thank you and yes it was absolutely delicious!
This is a hearty filling stew and a very healthy one too. I loved the foot note giving the various potions to swap, which makes it even more easy to work with what is regional yet have a flavour of the beautiful stew. Also, a wonderful adventure here on the recipe swap and learning a lot from it. Thankyou
yes I believe any recipe from around the world can be adapted to what is locally available!
Such a beautiful recipe! This one is on my list to try out – it would make a great lunch recipe for cool, rainy days!
thank you – yes definitely a good one for cool days!
That stew looks like something to have on a chill night… I wouldn’t want any additional carbs to go with it…
yes it is perfect to eat as is, on its own!
Such a warm and hearty stew, packed with loads of veggies and spices. A delicious stew perfect for those chilly nights!
yes it’s perfect for cool winter nights
Mireille thank you so much for trying out a Kenyan recipe from my blog. Githeri is such a healthy meal, mostly enjoyed on its own as it’s a balanced meal with carbs, protein and the vitamins and minerals. Recently, had gone to stay at the beach hotel for a weekend and they were demonstrating how to make it to the tourists. They loved it. Meat is usually added when they make it for celebrations like weddings, Christmas etc.
I totally LOVED it – hearty and delicious.Even though I am a meat eater, I did not miss it at all. This is definitely a complete meal on its own.
The stew looks delicious…I’m glad to be a food blogger to know all these recipes from world over…This kenyan vegetable stew is worth giving a try
Love this hearty soup with some crusty bread on the side. As always love your detailed post explaining the ingredients. I would have never known about the different corns if not for the post.
thanks and btw I have seen the choclo in Patel Brothers so you should try it next time you come across them. They are hearty and perfect for soup
Love to read your post as it is loaded with a wealth of information. The stew looks healthy and comforting. Perfect in this chilly weather.
yes definitely a comfortfood stew
Such a lovely stew, it is bursting with flavours. The weather is perfect for it here now. Need to try sometime.
I am sure you will love it when you do try it.
This Githeri stew looks absolutely delicious here ! Also love that you have added so many vegetables and lentils as well 🙂
yes it is both healthy and delicious
This is my kind of food – so deliciously spicy and hearty. Putting on my to-make list! xx
it is full of wholesome flavors that create such a delicious stew
My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
Thanks For Sharing this Amazing Recipe. My Family Loved It. I will be sharing this Recipe with my Friends. Hope They will like it.