Jollof beans (black-eyed beans in tomato sauce)

Jollof beans (black-eyed beans in tomato sauce)

Try journalist Kemi Bamgbose’ fiery jollof beans, made with scotch bonnet chilli for extra heat. It’s surprisingly thrifty to make too.

Jollof beans (black-eyed beans in tomato sauce)

Turn up the heat even more with chilli-marinated chicken kebabs.

  • Serves icon Serves 4
  • Time icon Hands on time 15 min, simmering time 1 hour 40 min, plus overnight soaking and resting

Try journalist Kemi Bamgbose’ fiery jollof beans, made with scotch bonnet chilli for extra heat. It’s surprisingly thrifty to make too.

Turn up the heat even more with chilli-marinated chicken kebabs.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories
321kcals
Fat
6.9g (1g saturated)
Protein
17.2g
Carbohydrates
42.4g (10g sugars)
Fibre
10.1g
Salt
0.8g

Ingredients

  • 250g dried black-eyed beans
  • 400g tin tomatoes
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ½ scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded
  • Sunflower or olive oil for frying
  • ½-1 tsp Dunn’s River All Purpose Seasoning
  • 1-2 tsp Maggi Liquid Seasoning
  • Handful freshly chopped parsley
  • Handful chopped fresh coriander
  • Squeeze lime juice (optional)
  • Cooked rice, bread, couscous or fried plantain to serve
Sticky screen? No thanks! Tap to prevent your screen from going off while cooking.

Method

  1. Pick through the black-eyed beans and discard any stones or cracked beans. Put in a bowl with plenty of cold water and soak overnight.
  2. The next day, rinse the beans and drain, then put in a pan, cover with cold water and cook, covered, over a medium heat for 60-75 minutes until tender. Top up the water in the pan if necessary. Don’t add salt as it will harden the beans.
  3. Once the beans are soft and cooked, drain and put in a bowl. Season with a little salt and, using a potato masher, mash the beans slightly, so they’ll absorb more of the flavour from the sauce.
  4. Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. In a food processor/blender, whizz the tomatoes, half the chopped onion, the red pepper, garlic, ginger and scotch bonnet to a paste.
  5. Heat a large saucepan with a glug of oil. When the oil is hot, add the remaining chopped onion to the pan and soften over a low-medium heat for 5 minutes. Pour in the blended tomato mixture, cover and cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes.
  6. Stir in the crushed beans, then season to taste with ½-1 tsp of the all purpose seasoning and 1-2 tsp Maggi liquid seasoning. If the sauce is a little thick in consistency, add a splash of water to thin. Stir well, then cover the pot and simmer the beans for another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the beans are covered in sauce and the mixture doesn’t look dry (add
    a splash of water if it does).
  7. Once the beans are cooked, let them rest in the pan for an hour or more, so the flavours can settle. Warm the beans through and stir in the chopped parsley and coriander. Add a squeeze of lime juice, if you like, and serve with rice, bread, couscous or plantain as you wish.

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving
Calories
321kcals
Fat
6.9g (1g saturated)
Protein
17.2g
Carbohydrates
42.4g (10g sugars)
Fibre
10.1g
Salt
0.8g

delicious. tips

  1. Traditionally this recipe is made with dried crayfish, but as this is hard to find (unless you live near an African or Caribbean shop), non-vegans could add a pack of chopped smoked mackerel fillets at the end of the cooking time and heat through.

    To save time you could use a 400g tin black-eyed beans. Drain and rinse under cold water, then start from step 3.

  2. Make the beans up to 3 days ahead and keep covered in the fridge. Reheat until piping hot throughout to serve.

Buy ingredients online

Subscribe

Fancy getting a copy in print?

Subscribe to our magazine

Rate & review

Rate

Reviews

Share a tip

Or, how about...?

Save recipe icon Save recipe icon Save recipe
Save recipe icon Save recipe icon Save recipe

Favourite vegetarian recipes

Baked chickpea and halloumi no-meat balls

No meat? No problem. These chickpea meatballs include halloumi and...

Save recipe icon Save recipe icon Save recipe

Vegan dinner recipes

Chickpeas with winter vegetables and saffron

This Turkish recipe is a wintry version of turlu turlu,...

Save recipe icon Save recipe icon Save recipe

Chicken thigh recipes

Baked chicken thighs with peppers and butter beans

Make two portions of this healthy Mediterranean-style chicken and bean...

Subscribe to our magazine

Food stories, skills and tested recipes, straight to your door... Enjoy 5 issues for just £5 with our special introductory offer.

Subscribe

Unleash your inner chef

Looking for inspiration? Receive the latest recipes with our newsletter

We treat your data with care. See our privacy policy. By signing up, you are agreeing to delicious.’ terms and conditions. Unsubscribe at any time.