Coconut seems to be a jolly good fellow to its fellow foods. It goes down well with many different foods, and always churn out great taste at the end. Since the lockdown, I have been trying coconut in different food combinations and non so far has been bad. I have tried it with cornflakes and milk, it was awesome. I have also tried it with noodles and plantain and egg, it was the bomb!
Today I decided to try it with beans, and the outcome is just tasty! I finally nailed it by serving it with garri (local cassava flakes).
Let me spare a moment to tell you all what garri is, especially for those who are not from my part of the world.
Garri, better described in English as cassava flakes, is made from cassava tubers. The tubers are harvested, peeled, grated and squeezed in a sack, with the purpose of removing every bit of moisture from it. It is then heated, we call it frying, but oil is not involved, unless in a case where you want the garri red in color, then a drop of palm oil is then rubbed in the frying pan. It is usually a bigger and special kind of frying pot by the way. This process leaves the substance very dry and free of moisture. It is then sun dried and becomes very easy to preserve by easily storing it away from water. Garri is one of the commonest and widely used food across different ethnic groups and cultures in Nigeria and beyond. It can be eaten in different forms. It can be soaked with water + sugar and milk, just like its educated brother, cornflakes. You can also include snacks on the aforementioned. Garri is rugged, just like the crop from where it is obtained. It is original and the demand for it is relatively high too. There is an adage drawn for it in our local pidgin: garri no get advert but e sell pass indomie. Which means in English: garri is not commercially advertised but it sells more than noodles. That is all we can take about garri for now.
Preparation of coconut beans:
- I parboiled the beans
- I put it back on fire for the final phase, with water slightly over the beans and allowed it to boil till it became soft
- I diced onions and added part and kept the remaining part aside.
- I added blended fresh pepper, palm oil, a seasoning cube and spices and covered it for some minutes
- The grated coconut and part of the diced onions came last when the food was fully cooked. I added them and stirred everything and dropped down the pleasantly flavored beans porridge from the fire.
I kid you not, beans porridge is one of the simplest foods to cook, as it has its own natural sweetness.
I dished some of the yummy into a plate and soaked some garri in another, with a cube of sugar and a little milk. I wanted it almost natural.
And bang…! Here you have it.
You can try this at your end and thank me later.
Extra Tip: if you can not lay your hands on that life saver called garri, you can use custard with beans. It’s another one! (in DJ Khaled’s voice).
Thank you
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