Weekend Cuisine
Black-eyed beans are popular throughout Uganda and in Africa. I hasten to add that there are myriad of versions of this dish to be found From Morocco to Malawi. However, it is in West Africa that the beans are most prevalent, which explains the logic behind why they are found in the Caribbean. No doubt this was caused by the slaves who planted them so as to provide meals with a flavour of home.
Dried peas and beans, being somewhat on the dull side, readily respond as is the case with many dull people to the right contacts. At all cost, do not make the mistake of upstaging them, for they have invaluable, albeit incomplete, proteins. Mix them with tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, chili, meat and cheese. They are also much more temperamental than one could imagine. Would you believe that their cooking time depends on the locality in which they were grown, as well as their age for sure two unknown imponderables for the cook; plus the type of water used in cooking them.
By all means do wash them and if need be, sort them out and remove the stones and the chaff, unless you buy the ones that come already packaged. If not preprocessed, the beans are normally soaked overnight. Bring them to a slow boil in the water in which they were soaked, unless it is bitter, as happens with soybeans. Reduce the heat and simmer until they are cooked and tender. One test, provided you discard the beans that you have tested, is to blow on a few of them in a spoon. If the skins burst, they are sufficiently cooked.
If you have forgotten to soak, no sweat. A quick soak method to tenderise for cooking is to cover the beans with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for two minutes and remove from the heat and set aside. Cover and let stand for an hour and then return to the boil and cook until they become tender. Alternatively, blanching for two minutes is almost equivalent to eight hours of soaking. You may use preprocessed beans that are available from Carrefour Uganda and Millennium Supermarket situate at Kisementi, which have the advantage of requiring no soaking. However, bear in mind that several nutrients have been lost in the preparation.
Lentils and spilt peas are the better for soaking, but do not require it. Remember, too, that one cup of dried beans, peas, or lentils will expand to to 2 ½ cups after cooking. In case you are wondering how many types of beans are available on the market, there are approximately 400 types of edible dry beans that are grown around the world with Indian being the biggest producer in the world. These include broad, black or turtle, cranberry, scarlet, runner, red, kidney, black eyed peas or beans, edible soys, pinto, cow peas or Mexican frijoles, chick peas or garbanzos, flageolets which are the French haircuts dried and adzuki beans from which oriental bean paste is made.
Each variety has, for the connoisseur, its own slightly different but satisfying charm, taste and pleasure. White beans, which the white man learnt from the Indians and then took sailing, became what the Americans call navy beans. They are usually the toughest of the lot and take up to three hours simmering. Dried beans after soaking overnight, may cook almost as rapidly as fresh ones viz. 1 ½. Lentils take about 1 ½ hours to cook.
SERVES FOUR
Ingredients
450g boneless cubed lamb, mutton or goat
1 litre lamb, chicken or beef stock
75g black eyed beans (peas), soaked for at least 6 hours or overnight
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large cloves, garlic crushed
1 tablespoon crushed fresh ginger
40ml tomato paste
1 ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 ½ teaspoon palm or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
115g pumpkin flesh, chopped
Salt to taste and a little hot pepper sauce if so desired
Method
Put the meat in a large saucepan with the stock or water and bring to the boil. Skim off any foam (scum) and then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until tender.
Stir in the drained black eyed beans and continue to cook for about 35 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, tomato paste, thyme oil, mixed spice, black pepper, salt and hot pepper sauce and cook for a further 15 minutes until the beans are tender. Add the pumpkin and simmer for 10 minutes until it has become soft but not to the point of being mushy. Taste and correct seasoning. Serve with boiled yam, plantain or sweet potatoes.
VARIATIONS:
Mutton is a mature meat that offers a very good flavour and texture, ideal for stews and casseroles. If mutton is not available, lamb makes a good substitute. Goat meat is always readily available in most butchers in Kampala, whatever the case, using any of the above mentioned meat, you will get good results. Any white dried white beans can be used instead of black eyed beans (peas). If you wish to have a firmer texture, cook the pumpkin for about 5 minutes, until just tender.
Titbits
You may use preprocessed beans that are available from Carrefour Uganda and Millennium Supermarket situate at Kisementi, which have the advantage of requiring no soaking. However, bear in mind that several nutrients have been lost in the preparation. Lentils and spilt peas are the better for soaking, but do not require it.
