Beans porridge is one of my favourite meals. Mmmmmmm, I cannot tell exactly what it is about beans that get me so glued to the meals. Well, it could be its distinctive tasty nature or its nutritional contents that keep me wanting to eat this delicious legume over and over again.
A few days ago while I was pondering on an ideal recipe to share with you, I came across a packet of black eyed beans that has been lying calmly in the kitchen cupboard.
Even though I enjoy eating beans, but black eyed beans is not really my cup of tea. I prefer the brown beans, kidney beans or white beans. But that still doesn't stop me from eating this particular beans species any time it crosses my path :D
So when I saw the black-eyed beans packet in the cupboard, the thought of making and sharing the recipe with you seemed and sounded like an ideal one. Besides, a hot soothing bowl of black eyed beans porridge is surely a fantastic meal for a cold chilly afternoon.
One thing is wanting to prepare a particular meal, another thing is having the essential ingredients that will facilitate getting the meal right!
Well, since I had the black eyed beans available, I had to do the other needful part, which is to check for the availability of the essential cooking ingredients, especially the baking soda.
Yes, you heard me right. Baking soda indeed!!!
Oh, how can I cook with baking soda? You might ponder -------
My dear, baking soda, which is also known as sodium bicarbonate or bicarbonate of soda can serve as a food tenderizer as well. Although it is used mostly for increasing the quantity and lightening the texture of baked food products such as; cake and pastries etc, this dry leavening agent is also considered effective for tenderizing foods that are difficult to cook. I understand that why most people refrain from cooking beans especially the black-eyed beans is due to the longer cooking duration it takes the beans to tenderize. But this shouldn't be an issue any longer.
Kudos to baking soda!
Although most people usually use potash for tenderizing food such as beans but the health risks posed by this chemical substance have raised concerns. This has led to the identification and the use of a healthier alternative which is baking soda. So if you are tired of wasting your electricity or gas cooking, fed up with the longer cooking time or you rarely cook beans because you don't want to use potash, don't worry cos baking soda will solve all those problems for you.
Most importantly, if you are a kidney failure patient or you are on dialysis and advised not to eat any food containing potash, don't worry cos baking soda is the best replacement for potash.
So, back to where I stopped before preaching about baking soda----- I also found out that I had some pointed sweet pepper available and knew immediately that the black eyed beans porridge is definitely gonna come out well. With the salt, olive oil and stock cube at my reach as well, I turned on the cooker and the rest is history.
The black eyed beans porridge came out so tasty and aromatic. Besides, the meal is so healthy due to its rich essential nutrients and definitely something you would like to give a try.
While I enjoy eating plain beans porridge, I also love garnishing it with some fresh vegetables. So this time around, some cherry tomatoes, onions and salad vegetables did the honours. Garnishing the beans porridge with those fresh veggies was just the icing on the cake because the pair tasted so delicious.
Sometimes I like to add a twist to my beans porridge so instead of garnishing with vegetables, I'll cook the beans with yam or with plantain. This is also a fantastic twist on the normal beans and it's just as delicious, yummy and tasty as you can imagine.
And again, you can throw some cut yam or plantain into the beans while cooking. But for this particular black eyed beans porridge, I went pretty simple by just garnishing it with some vegetables and the outcome was just amazing.
Pretty easy, pretty delicious and pretty nutritious! Give the recipe a go!!!
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Ingredients:
- 1 onion
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 stock cube
- ⅛ cup olive oil
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 350g black eyed beans
- 600ml sweet pepper juice
- 1 pointed sweet pepper (blended)
- 1 bowl salad vegetables for garnishing
Instructions:
- Wash and add the black eyed beans in a cooking pot.
- Add boiling water and baking soda then cook until tender.
- Decant any excess water then place back on medium heat.
- Add the sweet pepper juice, blended sweet pepper, olive oil, stock cube and salt.
- Stir and allow to simmer for 10 mins.
- Stir properly and bring down from heat.
- Serve warm, garnished with sliced onions, tomatoes and salad vegetables.
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