Men Can Cook - My Special Recipe of Bean and Plantain Porridge

_{my special recipe}

Have you eaten beans and plantains combined before? How does it taste? If you're to choose between a bread, yam, and plantain combination, which would you choose? Beans and plantains [BP] will reduce your blood Pressure, [BP.]

Today, I decided to make the best use of my day in the kitchen. My female siblings have gone back to school, and I'm just left with my junior brother and my father. I decided to be the chef for the month, to cook for the house. Let's see what I got. It's bean and plantain porridge I cooked today.

I'll be sharing my special recipe from start to finish. It's Nigerian beans and plantain porridge, a delicacy Nigerians are intentional about. Before sharing steps for preparation, let me briefly give a glimpse of what this recipe is and why it's special.

Beans and plantains porridge is a special food combination that is widely eaten by Nigerians as breakfast, mostly, and as dinner, as the case may be. Due to the increase in the prices of these foodstuffs, many eat beans without combining them with plantains or yam, as these two are hot sellers in the market. These two food items have nutritional value when combined, as stated below.

• Beans: Protein Class

There's a saying that beans make people tall and healthy, which is quite true. This is one of the major foods eaten in my country, and I personally can't do without it as it's the only popular protein that's affordable. Other proteins are highly valued because of their cost and because they act as complements to food.

• Plantain: Roughage

Plantain, which is the complement for beans, serves as a roughage that contains iron and helps in building one's bones and body system. It makes one firm and buoyant in structure. It is one of the best combinations for beans and can be eaten alone, either as pepper soup or as porridge.

In preparation of this recipe, you'll need essential foodstuffs to make it easy to prepare and rich. I'll start with the main service provider, Beans.

Beans are the main food. There are different types of beans, so I decided to go with iron beans.
Plantains are a combination of beans and act as roughages.
Leafy Vegetables
Spices, oil, and salt
Crayfish and dry fish

These were the major ingredients I used to cook this porridge: beans and plantains. Do you doubt I can actually cook this meal for the family? These were my fears. Anytime I cook for the family, I'm always cautious of what I add and don't add to avoid making it repulsive.
My fear is to put too much water in, which may make the food too soft and make it repulsive. I also fear adding too much salt and Maggi with pepper. If a food spoils, it's because of too much water, which will make the bean too soft, like a baby's food. If it is to spoil, there'll be a lot of salt and pepper in the food, or such may not even be in the food, making it tasteless. All things being equal, I proved a point today that men can cook. Check this out.

• Before you make a tasty bean and plantain porridge, you must measure the quantity of beans you want to cook and then select the shaft from the beans. I measured 3½ cups and then selected it on a tray. After selection, I had to wash the beans properly and allow the residual shaft to go afloat and below. I did the separation and put it in a clean pot.

• I was very conscious of the amount of water I put in to avoid making it too soft during the whole process. I put a jug of water in it and ensured the water was above the beans, about 3 meters, as shown in the picture. Then heat the pot until the bean is a bit soft. The colour of the water did change to brown somehow. When it got to this point, I added a considerable amount of salt and tasted to know if it was too much or not.
  

• After adding salt, I added 4 cubes of Maggi to the beans and tasted them to ensure they were tasty. I then added ground crayfish, pepper, dry fish, sliced plantains, and other spices to the pot and added some water as the one used in boiling the beans to soften as a result of applied heat.

I had to wait for 10–15 minutes before adding oil, which was second to the last thing on my list. I then added vegetables when the water had been absorbed. This recipe doesn't need to go completely dry as rice. I made it more like porridge so the taste could be felt. And then, I had my porridge served hot on a plate.

Slicing Vegetables	Addition of oil

What do you say? Did I try? I need your reviews on this. My day was just foody, I must say. I'll love to read recommendations and commendations in the comment section of this post.

	Men Can Cook