Quick Recipes: How to make brown rice salad, beans & plantain porridge

It’s the weekend and what better way to spend it than to make the best out of it.

Here are two quick three-course meals for that perfect get-together this weekend.

Beans & plantain porridge

Beans lover or not, you would love this meal. The sweet power of plantain has made it special. And crayfish and dry fish flavours would leave you asking for more. This is the beginning of your journey to loving beans. To enjoy, cook with ripe plantain.

Ingredients

700 g beans
4 pcs plantain
350 mls palm oil
2 pcs onions
3 pcs smoked fish
3 tbsp crayfish
3 pcs rodo
1 pc ginger
3 tsp salt
100 g ugwu

Method

Sort the beans and rinse before cooking. Place the beans in a large saucepan with about 2-2.5 litres of water and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and let it stand for about an hour. Drain and rinse the beans, then set aside.

Add 1.2 litres of water to the beans and allow to cook for over medium heat until soft. Add more water if necessary and stir occasionally to prevent it from burning.

Stir in the plantain (peeled and chopped), crayfish, dry fish (washed) and salt about 15 minutes to the end of cooking.

In another saucepan, fry the onions (chopped), rodo (chopped) and ginger (peeled and grated) in the palm oil for about 12 minutes.
Pour the sauce into the beans and allow to cook for few minutes. Adjust seasoning. Add the ugwu (chopped) and allow to simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Serve.

Brown rice salad

Anything rice got me and this brown rice isn’t an exception. But please take my advice on this one, do not try this recipe with white rice because the brown rice not only makes it chewier but gives it a nutty flavour. Healthy? Yes, it is. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice
1 pc onion
2 pcs tomatoes
1 pc cucumber
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp curry
1 pc lemon
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 bunch parsley

Method

The rice for this recipe should be cooked and measured to fill 2 cups. Set aside.

Dice the onion, tomatoes, cucumber and chop the parsley. Toss them through the cooled rice.

In a small bowl, combine the oil and curry. Squeeze the lemon juice and mix well. Drizzle over the rice mixture and season with salt and lots of pepper.

Mix thoroughly to ensure that the rice is well coated. Adjust the season and stir well.
Serve with grilled fish or steak.

Click here to get all the ingredients.