Cape Verde is an archipelago of 10 islands off the West Coast of Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean. It was inhabited by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century. It has some beautiful towns and coastlines such as Fontainhas, Mindelo and Ponta Do Sol.
Fontainhas is a small village on the Cape Verde island of Santo Antao. It has a central square and a few colorful houses. It sits on the edge of a cliff and has a beautiful view of the sea. It is considered by National Geographic as a village with one of the most beautiful views in the world.
Our Cape Verde meal was Peasants Chachupa, Peri Peri Chicken, Cape Verdean Sweet Potato Gofung and Caipirinhas. Chachupa is the national dish of Cape Verde. It is a stew that can be made using different vegetables and meats. The Peasant’s Chachupa we made did not contain any meat, only onion, potato, acorn squash, hominy, great northern beans, savoy cabbage, garlic, tomatoes and paprika. It was good but did not have a lot of flavor. When reheated for leftovers we added chorizo and it was delicious.
The Peri Peri chicken had Jalapeño, Chili peppers, herbs and spices including garlic, basil and paprika. It was tasty. We used the leftover sauce to marinate shrimp to grill – very good! The Gofung was an interesting dessert – it was a fried sweat potato, corn meal and sugar mixture. It wasn’t real sweet and had the texture of pressed cookies. A Caipirinha is muddled lime and sugar with cachaça, a rum made straight from sugarcane – a light and refreshing drink.
Fontainhas 
Fontainhas 
Mindelo 
Ponta Do Sol
