Blessings of Black Eyed Beans
Good fortune with hearty home cooking
What is your favourite food, one that warms your heart, mind and body?
Seasoned and new friends, welcome to our fabulous feast, and my first letter of 2024. After much celebration at Christmas and to ring in the New Year, with a daring ‘first time’ turkey, deep-fried rum and spice doughnuts, honey butter drenched pancakes and more, not to mention those of you who cooked with me, sharing photos of all of the above and more, I yearn for warming food like my Slow-cooked Beans with sweet plantains and crispy onions that will sharpen your cookery senses as you learn to cook this dish. My favourite food, one that warms my heart, mind and body.
The West African culture of cooking rice and beans has influenced many cuisines across the world, from the rice and peas in the Caribbean, to Hoppin’ Jon in the US, Feijoada in Brazil and many more across the world. A tradition passed on by our enslaved ancestors, who took not only their rice growing expertise to these new lands, where they worked to increase the wealth of their captors, but also indigenous foods and cooking techniques from home. Skills and recipes that have stood the test of time.
In the US, Hoppin’ Jon is a New Year staple, originating in the low country of South & North Carolina Georgia and Florida. A dish cooked to ring in the new year, traditionally with golden rice which is a pride of the area, red peas (beans), collard greens and ham to flavour the broth. It is believed that this brings luck and prosperity. There is much more to this history that I am currently writing and will share soon. And so, dear friends, we shall we cook some beans to usher in 2024? A year that I wish is filled with many more blessings and good fortune for you. Yes please!
I wanted to take an entire week off to do nothing, especially as I was struck with a cold just before New Year. But after such a busy year that often left me too tired to write, I have been enjoying writing every single day, since our little team closed for the holidays on 22nd December. I really enjoy ‘speaking to you’ through these letters, and it’s even better when you respond in your comments.
I’d love to ask for a favour. If you are enjoying reading please click on the heart ❤️ above or below this letter so that I and others know that this is worth reading.
Thank you for making our community such fun and for giving me the strength to keep writing to you. Now let’s get to the heart of today’s recipe.
Slow-cooked beans as I call them, is my version of a variety of bean dishes I grew up loving. Sometimes cooked simply and served with a rich stew (tomato sauce) or smoky oniony chili crisp with lashings of oil like in a dish called Agoyin. (Also in AFRICANA cookbook) Or cooked within a tomato or pepper based sauce, with plantains or yams. These could be black eyed beans, honey beans, red or black beans.
Vegan AFRICANA
Although this recipe is not traditionally vegan, I never eat it with meat, and seldom with fish. It has become my go-to vegan dish. For many years, I have been cooking without the traditional crayfish - which are very small versions of dried shrimp we add to almost every soup in Nigeria. Our very own fish sauce! I stopped using them when home in the UK, because I didn’t like the quality of produce I found compared to the wonderdul golden crayfish I have access to when home in Nigeria or in Ghana. I could dry shrimps at home, however, I have grown to love this vegan version of the Slow-cooked beans I have loved all my life.
This recipe is “home.” When I am sad and weary, I turn to these slow-cooked beans to nourish my heart, body, and spirit. As a baby, my mother weaned me on this with smashed potatoes and mackerel. The secret is cooking the beans until buttery soft and finishing with blended peppers, crayfish, and red oil. My father’s late sister, Auntie Vic, taught me to throw in a chunk of onion to soften the beans as they cooked. While I have not been convinced of the efficacy of this tip, I have strived to obey my auntie and enjoy the wonderful flavor the onion does impart to the beans.
Let’s get cooking!💃🏽
*Exclusive Recipe from my cookbook, Africana*
Africana is available worldwide from the links below, including signed copies. If you love and enjoy the recipes please leave a review here. It goes a long way.
Slow-Cooked Beans with Plantain & Crispy Onions
Feeds 4 - 6
Ingredients
• 300g dried black-eyed peas, brown beans or Nigerian honey beans, picked and thoroughly rinsed
• 1 large red or brown onion, peeled and halved
• 1 bay leaf