Nigerian Fried Beans Recipe-

Ingredients:

• 350 g (12 oz) brown or black-eyed beans
• 2 onions
• 3 tbsp. red palm oil (or more – this is a must have ingredient, for authentic African-Nigerian flavor)
• 1 or 2 Knorr seasoning cubes (another must have ingredient)
• Salt to taste
• 1 Habanero pepper
• Water

Prep Cook Instructions:

1. Soak the beans in cool water overnight. This is an important step, because it radically decreases the beans bloating when cooked, and also the gastritis and upset stomach so often associated with eating beans.
2. When you’re about to prepare your bean dish, chop 1 of the onions into thin slices, and quarter the other onion and pound and grind it into a chunky mash. Note: if you want to have the authentic Nigerian cooking experience, use a mortar and pestle for this step. But if you prefer to avoid the manual labor, you can of course blend the onion into a mash, but control the blending so that the mash is still kind of chunky.
3. Take your pre-soaked beans, rinse them thoroughly, twice if necessary, and put into a large cooking pot.
4. Sauté the sliced onions with a few drops of oil to soften them and turn them slightly translucent.

Cooking Directions:

1. Place your pot of beans on the stove. Crush the Knorr cube(s) and add that in, as well as the chunky mashed onion. Now add in just enough water to cover the beans, bring to a boil, and start cooking. Keep cooking the beans until nice and tender all the way through. If necessary, add water during this process, but always keep the water level no higher than the level of the beans, and when the beans are about 3/4 the way done, do not add any more water. You don’t want very much water left in the pot at the end of this step.
2. Once your beans are well done, add in salt to taste; leave the salted beans in the warm pot, so they will absorb and dry up any water left over, for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then transfer the beans to another container.
3. Next, take a clean, dry pot and put it on the stove, pour in the palm oil and heat it up. If your palm oil has congealed, heat it until it melts, and in either case, liquid or congealed, keep heating the oil until – but not beyond – the point where a couple droplets of water tossed into the pot will pop, snap and sizzle.
4. Now add in the sautéed onions and stir for a while.
5. Mince the Habanero pepper and add it in, and stir everything together until it is all blended and heated up thoroughly – two minutes at most is all this step should take.
6. Finally, add in the cooked beans, mix and blend well with the rest of the ingredients, cook and stir for about another 2 minutes. Do a taste test, and adjust salt if need be.
7. Put the lid on the pot, and allow the dish to simmer for another few minutes, and then your Nigerian Fried Beans dish is ready to eat. Serve with fried plantains and/or Ugali.

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