Beans are seeds from the flowering family called Fabaceae which comes in different types such as the black-eyed pea/bean, the black turtle beans or pigeon beans. It remains a popular food for decades for some major reasons including the fact that they’re easy to prepare; nutritious not to mention they’re healthy and very cheap in every market.
There are some recipes to try and the black-eyed beans pottage from West Africa, Nigeria precisely, is quite different from the usual way beans are cooked. It takes about two hours to prepare and the locals usually prefer eating it with carb foods like Yam, Plantain, Sweet Potato or Rice.
The black-eyed bean is common among folks in Africa mostly because it takes lesser time to cook than the other species.
Beans Recipe, How to Cook With Yam
Ingredients:
1. 3 cups Beans
2. 1/2 tuber Yam
3. 3 tablespoons ground Crayfish or dry Prawn
4. Cowskin
5. 1 Smoked fish (mackerel) – cleaned and deboned
6. 3 large tomatoes, 5 chilli pepper, 2 small onions and 3 bonnet pepper – blend to form a paste
7. 2 small sliced onion
8. Palm Oil/ Vegetable oil
9. Pumpkin leaf – sliced
10. Uziza leaf ( Piper guineense leaf) – slice
11. Uziza seed – ground
12. 1 sliced Red bell pepper (Tatashe)
13. Salt to taste
Wash and par boil the beans in a pot (try pressure pot to save time) for 5minuntes. When it sizzles, drain out the water, refill and continue cooking until tender then set aside.
In a separate pot, cooked the cow skin until it’s soft and tender and then cut into cubes.
Peeled and cut the yam into cubes, wash and set aside. Put in a pot and fill with 2cups water (enough to completely cover the yam) add salt, sliced onion, crayfish and cook under medium heat for about 5 minutes till it’s soft.
In a deep frying pan, heat up three cooking spoonsful of palm oil and stir-fry the onion, slices bell pepper and 2 tbsp crayfish or dry prawns – this will intensify the flavor.
Add the tomato paste (from ingredient #6) and fry until water dries up, add smoked fish, cow skin, grounded uziza seeds, seasoning cube, salt, stir and allow to simmer then set aside.
3. Combine the fried sauce with the cooked beans and yam. Gently but firmly stir them together; add a pint of water if necessary to moisten it and allow to cook for another 3-5minutes.
Add the pumpkin and uziza leaf, stir and remove from heat immediately. Serve hot.
Types of Beans
There currently about 40,000 bean varieties in the world genebanks but only a fraction are mass-produced for regular consumption. They range from lima to velvet beans but here is a list of ones that have been domesticated around the globe and which you can cook, Black bean, Soybean, Pinto bean, Navy bean, Kidney bean, Black-eyed bean, Cannellini bean.
See Also: Recipe for Spaghetti And Baked Chicken
Health Benefits of Beans
Besides its high protein, plenty of fiber and low-fat content, which is great for keeping your weight in check, beans offer a variety of benefits as listed below:
Regulate blood sugar
A ranking of foods according to how they affect blood sugar shows that most of the species of beans score low on the glycemic index. Experts believe that as a result of its protein and fibre content, the carbohydrates in beans takes a longer time to absorbed by the body and at a slower rate.
Packed with minerals, Potassium, Magnesium, Folate and Iron
These minerals are very vital for the heart. While potassium naturally removes excess sodium and water from your system, which automatically reduces your blood pressure, magnesium regulates blood pressure and aids in nerve function, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Folate is highly recommended at pregnancy or for women who are considering having children. Eating beans can help the fetus grow properly in the womb.
As for the Iron deficiency which has become a common nutritional deficiency that leads to anaemia, eating beans is an easy way to boost Iron intake. Although experts recommend you eat it with foods high in vitamin C like citrus, bell peppers, tomatoes and broccoli.
Contains Vitamin B
Besides fish, vegetables and whole grains, beans is a good source of vit. B which keeps the body strong. According to a Japanese study in Stroke, higher consumption of folate and B6 was associated with fewer deaths from heart failure in men, and fewer deaths from stroke, heart disease, and total cardiovascular cases in women.
Loaded with Fiber
The fibre in beans (both the skin and flesh) is what gives you the feeling of fullness, thus you don’t eat as much throughout the day. Dietary guidelines recommend about 25 gram per day for women
Good for Digestion
The soluble and insoluble fiber in beans work together to keep your digestive system running smoothly. The soluble fibre slows down digestion, which is the reason you feel satiated afterwards, and the insoluble fibre helps to prevent constipation.
Helps to lower Bad Cholesterol
High levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) can stick to the walls of your blood vessels, leading to build up of plaque and cause inflammation. Therefore, the soluble fiber in beans binds to the cholesterol in the Gastro Intestinal tract and prevents it from being absorbed in the blood.
Improves Heart Health
A study in the Canadian Journal of Medicine found that eating one serving of beans, peas, chickpeas, or lentils daily can reduce your LDL (bad cholesterol) levels by 5% thereby preventing cardiovascular disease by 5 to 6%.