CbB: 'Beans Stew à la Bella'

Happy New Year!!!! or Half year if you can act like I didn't go AWOL for half a year!! :p

It's been a great and blessed year so far for me and mine! #thankful.

I'll admit it has been really quiet here but it sure hasn't been quiet at all in my kitchen so sit back and lemme bring y'all up to date with what I have been cooking! Hehehe

First is my special beans stew aka 'Beans Stew à la Bella'.

Nota Bene: This is NOT 'gbegiri' (the famous Yoruba beans soup) as I don't want expectations to be cut short by those who are expecting gbegiri.

Sometime ago I visited my dear friend Zi, at home and while rummaging through her fridge for something to eat I found a bowl of what I initially thought was beans porridge and picked it out cos any day any time I'm up for beans (I love like beans! This is no secret). The second Zi saw the bowl she said 'Great!' I know you ll like this one. Let's boil some rice and eat with the beans stew'. Wait, Beans Stew!? Wow!!! To be frank I'd heard about this dish a couple of times but hadn't tasted it before and so you can imagine how excited I was to try this out. Sincerely, lunch was great! And so, I made a mental note to try this at home!

Fast forward months later to last weekend, I was cracking my head about what to make for lunch on Sunday as I love to make Sunday lunch somewhat special. Scrolling through my phone where I have a list of 'meals to try', I found beans stew on it!! And beans stew won the ultimate search!!

 'Beans Stew à la Bella'

'Beans Stew à la Bella' served with  Boiled Rice

Ingredients

Beans 

Goat meat

Smoked Chicken

Stockfish

Palm oil

Vegetable oil 

Fresh Tomato

Tatashe ( Red Bell Peppers)

Scotch Bonnets (Nigerian red pepper)

Crayfish

Onions

Stock cubes

Salt

Scent leaves (nchanwu)

1. I put my brown beans in a pot of boiling water (I used 3 cups but next time i would probably used a little less). When it had boiled for about 10 minutes, I changed the water and put it back on the heat to cook till it was al dente. I set this aside. 

2. I washed the goat meat and put in a pot with water, added lots of onions, stock cubes, stockfish and a little salt and allowed the goat meat to cook al dente also. (else by the time you are done the meat will be broken in pieces and separated from the bones and skin)

I have an aunt who cooks her beans porridge with the shredded flesh of stock fish. It added extra flavor and it was always a delight to munch the beans and stockfish together. This was what inspired me to add stockfish to this stew which I added while cooking my goat meat!

3. I ground my fresh tomatoes, tatashe and scotch bonnet peppers roughly. Two things: I always use more tatashe and fresh pepper than fresh tomatoes and no tomato paste to make my stew; I also like to grind them roughly to give the stew 'body' if you get my drift!

Now this is where the stew-proper starts ( :p all that was preps!)

4. I put a little palm oil in my pot and let it heat up and just as it started smoking, added vegetable oil (just about the amount you would need to make your normal stew). 

5. Next I fried the goat meat in the oil till it had browned a bit. I didnt need to take it out which was why I cooked it till it was al dente. 

6. I added the onions with a little stock cube and continued frying till it was just browning (I like the flavor that adds to the stew and I learnt the stock cube trick from my MIL) then added my already ground crayfish and allowed it fry for about a minute. 

7. I added the freshly ground tatashe, pepper and tomatoes and continued frying for another 10 minutes (but this depends on the quantity of your stew). 

8. Next I added the stock from the goat meat (which had my little bits of stockfish) brought it to boil then added the beans and smoked chicken, stirred it, covered it and reduced the heat. (At this point I went to boil my rice). If you feel the stew is too light (watery) just give it a good stir and try to mash some of the beans against the pot to help thicken it a bit.

9. I allowed it stew till the beans was really soft and all the flavors had mixed properly (so the idea is to keep checking it and stirring so it doesn't burn esp if your pot isn't non-stick). 

10. Finally, I tasted and adjusted the salt and pepper (because I wanted a really hot stew), added the chopped scent leaves, stirred properly and turned off the heat. 

There! You have it!!  'Beans Stew à la Bella'

On Sunday, I served with rice....

On Monday, I served with boiled yam....

On Tuesday, I served with Spaghettini (yes! I did! #biteme)......

But the absolute winner was when I had it with soft, freshly baked bread for breakfast this morning!! (still rubbing my tummy from the experience). 

Do have a go at it!!