Kenyan Spiced red beans in coconut milk (Maharagwe)

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 cup dried red kidney beans

2 medium-size yellow onions, chopped

1-2 tblsp. Oil

2-3 tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. turmeric

3 chili peppers, ground into a paste, or 1 and 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 cups coconut milk

Coconut milk:

Makes about 3 cups

fresh white meat of 1 coconut

Cooking Instructions:

In a large pot, cover the beans with water and simmer until they are just tender. Saute onions in oil until golden brown. With the remaining ingredients, add to the pot and simmer several minutes until the beans are very tender and the tomatoes are cooked. Serve over rice or a stiff porridge.

Coconut milk: Grate the meat by hand or process it in a blender. To extract the flavorful moisture from the gratings, it is easy to mimic the Africans' method of using a conical woven basket. Line a bowl with a cotton cloth such as cheesecloth, making sure that the lining is big enough to drape over the sides of the bowl. Dump the grated coconut onto the cloth and then pour 1 cup of boiling water over it. When it is cool enough to handle, gather the edges of the cloth and lift it above the bowl. Wring it with both hands to squeeze out the mlky liquid, which you should pour off and save. Repeat this process three times. The first squeezing is the most concentrated, so you should keep each squeezing separate and use them in order (i.e., use the first squeezing as the first cup in a recipe, etc.).

#kenya #redbeans #coconutmilk