Food challenge: Beans and Rice jollof without tomatoes. Guess how it was prepared?

Hello my lovelies, it's been a very long while since I took part in this food challenge. Most times, I forget to take pictures of the whole processes and only to remember after I have finished cooking.

However, I didn't forget today. I am going to share with you how I prepared a delicious and yummy beans and rice jollof without tomatoes. Do you know that most people can't prepare this food without tomatoes? They feel that the color will not be attractive or perhaps for some other reasons.

It will surprise you to see how I was able to prepare it and it still have a beautiful color.

The preambles

First, I got the ingredients ready before the actual cooking. I measured them out and kept them in my view so that I will not forget any of them.

I measured out 3 cups of beans and 4 cups of rice. This is what I grew up to see that rice should be bigger than bean when you want to combine them. I think I have deduced the reason for the combination. Beans is usually possessive than rice. Beans can take over the pot because it has a unique taste of its own. Moreover, bean is a protein and the body doesn't need it as much as it needs rice which is starch. Additionally, rice digests faster than protein because it's digestion starts from the mouth unlike the beans that start in the small intestine.

These are the possible reasons why most people prefer that rice be more than beans it their combined state. I learned that too.

	3 cups of beans
	4 cups of rice

I actually like this black eyed beans which we call iron beans because it's nutritional value and the fact that it cooks faster than other species of beans. It is rich in vitamin c, fiber, manganese and helps to lower high blood pressure.

I also got my other ingredients handy like the pepper, scent leaf and curry leaf. I got them from my garden around my house

	fresh from farm to pot

Then the ginger, garlic, crayfish, mixed spices, seasoning cubes, vegetable oil, salt.

	mixed spices and seasoning cubes
	crayfish, onions, ginger and garlic
	vegetable oil

Steps involved in the cooking

° I picked the beans to remove debris, then parboiled in a warm water. I washed it and cooked it to soften before combining it with the rice

° I parboiled the Rice, during which I ensured that it softens a little. Then I washed it and set it aside. The essence of letting it soften a little is because, I will not like to add more water after I add the initial one while cooking it. I will like that initial water to Cook them both.

	the parboiled rice

° while the beans was on fire, I cleaned by ginger, garlic, pepper, onions and crayfish and pounded them in my small mortar amd then set aside

	the pounded ingredients

° I then picked the leaves, washed, cut and set aside

	the leaf

Let's do the cooking

° I placed the empty pot on fire, added the oil and then the pounded ingredients along with salt and allowed to cook for a moment. I also added the mixed spices and the seasoning cubes. I also added my powdered tumeric for coloring

° I reached out to my boiled water and added. At this point, I added the quantity of water that I feel will be enough to cook the food till the end. This is subjective as it depends on how soft your rice and beans is. Just use your wisdom.

	the water with the ingredients in it

° I then added every other ingredients except the leaf and brought the pot to a boil.

° I added the rice and beans and used wooden stick to turn thoroughly to ensure a homogeneous mixture of all the ingredients in the pot. I tasted for salt and pepper and made sure they were ok. I then covered the pot to cook.

	the food is almost ready here

° as soon as the water dried up, I added the leaf, allowed to cook for just a little and brought the pot down

	that's the food, ready for consumption

At this point, I was already salivating because it was our breakfast. But the time was almost noon. The kids boiled potatoes and ate as breakfast before leaving for school. Yes, school reopened today here in my city. As they left, I had to take my time to prepare this food. I don't go out for workout today and so I left very well to cover up.

I was really very hungry at this point and I had to dish out the food and balance very well to enjoy my meal. Hahahaha, you wish you were here with me right? Don't worry, on a very good day, we will run it together

Are you willing to try this out @patjewell @event-horizon @drhira @mesola @beefit @kemsyluv @bossj23 @ruthjoe23 @xkool24 @sahmie @josepha and others. Let me here your thoughts about this food. Thank you all for reading through.

See you in my next episode!