Koki beans is a tasty steamed pudding that's packed with flavour, and is a popular, staple, Cameroonian dish. Mainly made with blended black eye beans, this is a great high protein treat to have as a snack or as part of a meal.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 55 minutes including cooling time
Total: 1 hour 10 minutes
Makes: 3 steamed puddings
Ingredients
Stage 1
- 350g dry black eye beans – allow to soak in cold water for at least 4 hours or overnight until the beans double in size.
Stage 2
- ½ medium-sized onion – roughly chopped
- ½ Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper (optional)
- 300 ml water – might not need all of this.
Stage 3
- 40 ml vegetable oil
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 100g kale – roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoon vegetable bouillon
- 1 ½ tsp salt – or to taste
Method
Soaking and peeling beans
1. Stage 1: Peel and de-skin the soaked beans by placing them in a blender with water. Do this in two batches and ensure the water is level with the beans. And pulse a few times; be careful not to blend the mixture fully at this point. You want the outer skin of the beans to peel away.
2. Using a large sieve and bowl, place the sieve on top of the bowl and give the beans a good rinse to wash off any extra starch. Discard the excess water.
3. Once rinsed, fill the bowl with water and place the pulsed bean mixture into the water. The beans’ skins should rise to the top; using the sieve, sieve out all the skins from the mixture and compost. Repeat this process for the second batch of beans.
Making the batter
4. Stage 2: Blend (peeled) beans, ensuring this stage is done in two batches. Add all of the stage 2 ingredients, minus the water, and the peeled beans into a blender and blend together; while it’s blending, slowly add the water to the mixture and blend till smooth. You might not need to add all the water, you do not want the batter to be too watery. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Repeat this process for the rest of the beans.
5. Pre-mix the 40ml of oil and tomato paste together – slowly adding a little bit of oil to your tomato paste while mixing to ensure it’s well incorporated.
6. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, add Kale into the bowl alongside the tomato and oil mixture and give it a good mix.
Steam the koki beans
7. Place a piece of kitchen foil in a small bowl and add the parchment paper on top.
8. Pour 1 cup of the batter into the parchment paper. Fold up the sides of the banana leaf/parchment paper and close the kitchen foil around the package to seal it. Pinch and twist the foil to ensure it doesn’t unravel.
9. Keep making parcels until you run out of batter.
10. Place the parcels in a steamer basket, or a colander set over a pot of boiling water. Cover the pot with a lid and steam for about 35/40 minutes. Top up with water as needed.
11. When the koki bean packages have finished steaming, remove them from the pot. Let them cool for 15 minutes, then open the parcels and enjoy them on their own as a snack or with your side of choice.
Recipe written and created by Ngwafu Tansie. Founder of gwafuvegan. As a black queer chef it's fundamental for me to represent within the hospitality industry and showcase my culture. Inspiring younger people that you can be whatever you want to be if you put your mind to it.
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