Skip to main content
Main

Sukuma Wiki

A Kenyan stew of greens simmered with onion, tomato, pepper, flour, lemon juice, and optional meat, served with ugali.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Kale and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 226 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Sukuma Wiki

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the greens

  1. Bring two cups of water to a boil in a large pot.

  2. Put greens in pot.

  3. Cover and steam until greens are nearly tender.

  4. While greens are cooking, combine flour, lemon juice, and a few spoonfuls of water in a small bowl or cup. Stir vigorously until mixture is smooth.

  5. Remove greens from heat and drain.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat oil in a separate pan.

  2. Sauté the onion, tomatoes, and hot pepper together.

  3. Add spices to taste.

  4. Add meat.

  5. Add flour-lemon juice mixture and stir until smooth.

  6. Reduce heat.

  7. Add drained greens.

  8. Cover and simmer over low heat until greens are fully tender and sauce is thickened.

Serve

  1. Make some Ugali to serve with your Sukuma Wiki.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1074Calories
74 gProtein
34 gFat
115 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Kale + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together226 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Kale + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together147 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Kale + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together526 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Lemon + tomatotop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Greens
Provide the main bulk of the dish and, once simmered, a tender texture.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so it becomes smooth and clings to the greens.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the rich oil and greens.
Onion
Builds a sweet, savoury base as it softens in the hot oil.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that combine with the onion to form the sauce.

The step that matters

Add the flour-lemon juice mixture and stir until smooth. Flour mixed into liquid clumps if added dry or unevenly. Making a smooth slurry first and stirring it in evenly lets the starch thicken the sauce without lumps.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (kale, flour, onion, tomato, meat):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against kale, flour, onion, tomato, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Meatless Tomato SoupMeatless Tomato Soup23 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesLemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipes