African
CUISINE
All The Goodness of Africa
Nigerian Herby Beans Pottage Recipe
Courtesy of http://southpawgroup.com/iqfoodplatter/nigerian-herby-beans-pottage-recipe/
Beans
pottage is a
healthy one
pot meal in
Nigeria that
is served at
any meal
occasion, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Beans with its good
protein content is great for growing children and adults
as a way to control your carbohydrate intake, because
beans by its nature is quite filling .
Some people avoid beans as they can be difficult for
some people to digest. Gas! Excess gas in the intestine
can cause discomfort and sometimes actual pain as
well as embarrassing flatulence .Why is this so? This is
because Beans contain some types of starches, for which
our bodies have limited stores of digestive enzymes to
handle these starches.
It’s the accumulated undigested or fermented starches
that produce gas and is retained in the intestines and
finally cause gas retention or flatulence in some of us.
The gas that sends people in the same room with you
racing out to get clean air away from you. Giggling is
common in primary school classes as children are in the
habit of realizing gas indiscriminately .
It is recommended that you soak the beans and pour away
the water and cook with fresh water. Also slow cooking
helps to to reduce the flatulence.
My twist to this commonly cooked dish is the addition
of effirin/ntong/nchawun . Addition of ntong in pottages
always brings that umph to dishes.
I cooked this dish using a pressure cooker. The texture of
the beans is just so soft but not mushy. You will find this
method interesting and different. You may wish to cook
normally but this will take a little more time. Enjoy your
beans pottage
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Recipe
Ingredients
3 cups of
brown black
eye Beans
1tablespoon Tomato purée
6 cooking spoons ground Tomato/ Pepper
( previously boiled)
1 medium size Onion
10 leaves Ntong
2 tablets cray?sh seasoning
1.5 liters Water
Salt to taste
Method
1. Pick and wash the beans. Leave in
water for 30 minutes
2. Strain the water and pour beans into
pot of water
3. Add the tomato purée , tomato/pepper
mix, onion, seasoning, salt to taste
4. Cover pressure cook and bring to boil.
5. Cook for 35 minutes on medium heat
6. Allow pressure cooker to cool , open
and return pot to burner and add the oil,
7. Turn o? heat and add the ntong.
8. Serve with plantain , rice or any
carbohydrate of choice.
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