Best of naija series...Beans and dodo

Honestly as a child, I didnt like beans for any reason. I remember I would be the last kid to leave the table during lunch as i painfully swallowed each spoon of this meal I didnt quite understand. Beans is a rich source of protein as most people know, I have come to like it a bit now and can only eat it in small portions,plus it must be accompanied by DODO ( fried plantain) or ripe boiled plantain. I cook a specie of beans called "ewa oloyin" ,the english literal translation is 'Honey Beans'. I divide into two portions, make one half into porridge beans and keep the rest plain which we serve with steamed white rice,peppered stew and chicken.

This recipe is for the exact beans porridge i made. I dont like crayfish (strange huh?)so I used stockfish instead.

golden deliciousness

     you'll need

• 2 cups of beans
• 1 cooking spoon of palm oil
• some stockfish
• 2 cooking spoons of fresh ground pepper (habanero)and tomatoes
• 1 stock cube
• 1 medium sized onion
• ripe plantain
• salt(optional) 
• Clean the beans and rid it of stones and chaff. wash and pour in a pot,cover with water. I heard adding salt from the scratch doesnt help with softening,I dont know how true this is,so I delayed the salt part. you can add the onions much later. save half  of the onion for the porridge part.

When the beans is soft, pour palm oil in a pot, fry onions in the palm oil, add the fresh ground pepper and tomato paste and allow to simmer, add the  stockfish and the boiled beans and seasoning,and allow to simmer ,let the beans soak up the palm oil sauce.add water till you get the desired consistency but remember,watery beans doesnt have a good reputation in Nigeria...LOL!

For the DODO
heat some oil in a pan, slice the plntain, drop in the oil when its hot,allow each side to cook for about 2 minutes on medium heat. Remove the plantain and place on paper towel to drain excess oil(this description sounds funny to a Nigerian, like please who doesnt know how to fry plantain?) dont worry,I have people from other Nationalities who read the blog.

On a lighter note, when I lived outside Nigeria, my friend from Akwa Ibom called me over to her flat to taste beans she had cooked,complaining it didnt taste Nigerian. All I needed to do was look at the specie of beans.apparently she bought some mexican beans and used Nigerian(Naija) ingredients to cook it.(Mexican Ewa-Riro). I called my dad and asked where to get the right beans if We dont stay close to an African market. He said black- eye beans would do, and it worked. So if you're reading from diaspora, you may need to look for black- eye beans to get the naija flavour of this recipe. You may need this information if you live outside Naija  because there are about 15 species of beans sitting innocently on the shelves of  some stores.