Blog move

Hi Everyone.

We have moved. Please check us out at mydiasporakitchen.com Thanks.

Chichi Uguru

There was a Hausa woman.........

Memories sweet memories. Any one know or remember the song that starts with the words titling this post. Does it jog your memory? Let me know in the comment below. This song always rings in my head each time I want to cook my best food "BEANS". Yeah beans is my best food surprising right? Oh well even more surprising is the fact that it happens to be my son's best food too. He is 8 and beans has been his best food since he could say the word BEANSH lol. Trust me beans is no favorite among adults let alone kiddos so join me as I let you into the secret that makes my beans special..... As in what I think makes the difference.

Beans usually takes a while to get ready so it is in your best interest to start cooking your beans in good time or else your planned lunch may well turn into dinner with a lot of hungry and sad, probably angry faces staring at you and then if the food turns out not to be sumptuous after such a long wait, spells disaster.... hmmmm.

What I used to do back home in Nigeria to reduce my prep time was to
pick my beans ( clean out the dirt and stones) and store the picked beans in a container way before I need to cook the beans. This way whenever I want to cook beans all I need to do is measure out the quantity I need, wash and put in the pot and start cooking. There goes step one to making your life easier when cooking beans. I have a few tried and tested recipes for beans which I have come up with and which I hope you and your family will enjoy. 

RECIPE 1: My Decadent yet Simple Beans Porridge.

You may be wondering why use the word decadent.... Well click here to understand what relationship decadence has with this pot of beans. 

Ingredients:

Before we start, I must let you know that brown beans is a better deal but you can get a very close out come with white beans popularly known as black eyed peas here in the United States but with a little tweak to this recipe.  Unfortunately I have no picture guide to this particular recipe because I haven't had brown beans (not that it's not available though) since I relocated to the United States but I assure you it is tried and true because this is my go to beans recipe back home in Nigeria where I didn't even take a second glance at Mr Black eyed peas. So this recipe comes as a base for you but the recipe with pictures is the one with black eyed peas, which happens to be my next recipe. When I get around to cooking the brown beans here I will post the pictures. Right now, the other pictures will suffice as this blog is mainly on my substitutes to the meals I love. With the brown beans you don't need much ingredients because brown beans especially the honey variety is in itself very tasty which is not so with the white beans hence the tweaking of this recipe. Enough of the long story.....

Note: This recipe can be halved.

1. 8 cups Brown (honey) beans     

2. 41/2 cups chopped Red Onions

3. 2 - 3 bonnet pepper or Jamaican hot Pepper ( I suggest you stick to two if you want your kiddos to give it a try)

4. 11/2 - 2cups palm Oil

5. Salt to taste.

1. Measure out your bean and wash it

2. Put it on the stove and bring to boil. 

3. Once it boils sieve out the water, rinse without rubbing then put back on stove.

Reasons for this I was told was

a. To reduce the pesticides that may have been used during farming.

b. to help to expel the gas that causes bloating for which beans is notorious for.

4. When the beans starts to boil again, then add I cup of chopped onions and a table spoon of salt.

5. As the water dries keep adding water to a level just above the beans, and keep checking the beans till it is cooked to a soft to touch but not mushy consistency.

6. When the beans is soft to touch, allow the water to dry but not completely. Then turn off your heat.

Here's what makes the difference. The sauce A.K.A onion-pepper medley

The Sauce

1. Before stage 5 above, Put a clean sauce pan on the stove.

2. Pour your palm oil in and heat it up till it is hot, but not flaming oh.

3. Pour in the remaining 31/2 cups of onions. You will hear the shhhhhh sound haha... You are on track

4. Stir a bit then add your chopped bonnet pepper or Jamaican pepper.

5. Keep stirring until the onions soften please don't leave your spot so it doesn't get burnt. Can you perceive the aroma now? Hmmmm..... I can.

6. Turn off the heat.

7. Mix in the sauce with the beans, turn the heat back on but on low.

8. Allow it to simmer for about 5 minutes on low heat then turn it well and turn off the stove.

Yep your meal is ready. Serve with fried or boiled plantain, fried or boiled potatoes or boiled yam.

Tips

1.Onions is a the secret to a lot af delicious meals and lots of it definitely makes the difference in the taste of beans

2. You may be wondering why don't you just blend the onions and pepper, yes you can, but I found that it tastes better when you just chop them. But if you must blend,  then know that step 5 of the sauce making stage will take longer because the water has to dry out from the blended mixture to get close to where we want it to be.

3. It is important that you cook the beans till it is soft.

4. A pressure cooker will do you a world of good if you have one because it will save you time and actually get you to the soft consistency of beans we are looking for easily.

Ehmmmm is there anything else I am forgetting? Oh well ask your questions and I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. Now I asked about a song at the beginning of this post does any one know the song please comment below. If you don't please read the next post where I will tell you the song and the story behind it lol.

Till then, remain blessed and thanks for looking. :)

Chi chi

A Nigerian in America

Hello friends,

My family (my hubby and two beautiful children) and I recently relocated to the United States, you may be wondering at the topic of this post  "A Nigerian in America", yeah cos i have been wondering what I would do to our food here in order not to miss home too much. Prior to relocation, whenever I visited the states I always had a phobia for cooking.