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Beans and plantain porridge
Ewa àti dodo: soft brown beans and ripe plantain simmered in a palm-oil pepper sauce
A big pot of this sweet-and-savoury porridge feeds a family through Saturday breakfast and beyond, and it is cooked from Lagos to Port Harcourt. Brown or honey beans (oloyin) are boiled until they start to break up, then finished in palm oil with blended pepper, onion and chunks of ripe plantain, which melt into the beans and sweeten them. Crayfish is common in the pot; this version is vegan and still rich. Tomatoes and salt added too early slow the beans down, so stir in the pepper base only once they are soft. Avoid adding the plantain at the start: it collapses into mush before the beans are soft. Chef's tip: draining the first 10-minute boil of the beans makes them gentler on the stomach.
- Total time
- 90 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 14 oz brown beansNigerian oloyin (honey beans) or black-eyed beans, picked over
- 2 ripe plantainsyellow with black spots, peeled, cut in 3 cm chunks
- ¼ cup red palm oil
- 1 onionhalf chopped, half blended
- 2 tomatoeschopped
- 1 red bell pepperchopped
- 1 stock cubescrumbled; check they are gluten free
- 1 tsp saltto taste
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Rinse 14 oz brown beans, cover with water by 5 cm and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and discard the water.
12 minStep 2: Return the beans to the pot with fresh water to cover by 5 cm and the chopped half of the 1 onion. Simmer, partly covered, for 45–60 minutes, topping up with hot water, until the beans crush easily between two fingers.
50 minStep 3: Meanwhile blend the other half of the onion with 2 tomatoes, 1 red bell pepper and 1 scotch bonnet chilli until smooth.
2 minStep 4: Stir in the blended pepper, ¼ cup red palm oil, 1 stock cubes and 1 tsp salt. Add 2 ripe plantains on top.
2 minStep 5: Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring gently once or twice, until the plantain is soft, the oil has mixed into an orange sauce and some beans have broken down to make it creamy. Add a splash of water if it gets too thick.
15 minStep 6: Rest for 5 minutes off the heat and serve warm.
5 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 560 kcal
- Protein
- 22 g
- Carbs
- 85 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Fibre
- 18 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does beans and plantain porridge take?
- About 90 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 75 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of tomatoes?
- Tinned chopped tomatoes: a 400g tin for about 6 tomatoes (in cooked dishes, not salads).
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