Botswanan boiled-bean dish — cowpeas (dinawa) slow-cooked with onion, salt, and a touch of oil into a thick, simple stew. Often combined with stamped corn (samp) into samp-and-beans, the everyday Setswana protein side.
Dinawa (cowpeas) are the indigenous African legume, predating the Old World peanut's arrival. The bean is slow-cooked, often with samp (dehulled stamped corn) into a one-pot meal that has fed Setswana families for centuries.
Spoon up dinawa — creamy black-eyed peas in a light onion broth, glistening with oil. Bite: the beans are tender-creamy, the onion's sweetness developed through long simmering, the broth lightly salty-savory. Mix with a forkful of samp for samp-and-beans: the corn's chew against the bean's softness. With bogobe or as a side to seswaa, this is the foundational Setswana legume staple.
Overnight soaking shortens cooking time. The added onion and garlic infuse during long simmering. Adding oil at the end is the traditional Setswana technique — frying the aromatics first is less common in this dish.
Variations
Dinawa with samp (samp-and-beans). With added bambara groundnut. With chicken stock instead of water (richer). With added pumpkin. With Mopane worms added (protein-rich). Sweetened version with sugar (children's).
On the Palate
Where Dinawa Botswanan sits in the Botswanan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 20 min active · 70 min waiting
- 1480 min
Soak 400 g dried cowpeas (dinawa) in cold water overnight.
- 24 min
Drain. In a heavy pot, cover with 1.2 L fresh water; bring to a boil.
- 34 min
Skim any scum. Add 1 chopped onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 tsp salt.
- 467 min
Reduce to medium-low; simmer 60-75 min until very tender. Add water if it dries out.
- 522 min
Optional: in the last 20 min, add 200 g pre-cooked samp (dehulled stamped corn) for samp-and-beans.
- 61 min
Stir in 2 tbsp oil + 1/2 tsp black pepper.
- 71 min
Taste; adjust salt. The beans should be soft, slightly creamy.
- 81 min
Serve hot alongside bogobe, seswaa, or with morogo greens.
