ADALU - SWEETCORN BEANS

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If you had told me growing up that I’d regularly be eating food with no meat, I probably would have asked why you are cursing me.

I’ve been working a lot of vegan meals into my week and most importantly, Nigerian meals. Eating vegan has opened up new food and just maybe curing me of my picky eating.

I used to hate beans and unless it’s Moin Moin (steamed bean purée) or Akara (fried balls), I won’t touch it but we live and learn.

Adalu (A-dah-lu) roughly translates to ‘mixture’. This is made with Red beans we Nigerian Yorubas call Oloyin (honey beans) or Red Red to other African countries. Originally the word Adalu refers to beans and sweetcorn, like the one here but I've noticed recently that it now includes any type of one pot beans, which I guess it's fair but if you say 'adalu' most people will assume you mean with corn.

One pot beans is a great meal that also freezes well. You can substitute Sweet Corn with plantain, either fried or just raw (adding it to the beans shortly before it’s cooked). Blackeyed beans is a perfect substitute and since it uses sweet corn, it balances perfectly, without the need to add sugar. Back in the days in Nigeria, some people will add some sugar to this because we have fieldcorns, which aren't sweet and used to be cheaper than tinned sweetcorn. There's also a generation of people that'll add stock cubes to this dish. I think it depends on who taught you how to cook/personal preference. Personally, I don't think stock cube has any business in beans but of course this is my personal opinion.

This dish doesn't take much chilli, a few spoons of blended raw sauce is usually enough but unless you cook a lot of Nigerian meals, I doubt you'll have this available in your fridge. I therefore recommend simple chopping scotch bonnet or using chilli powder. Can you make this without chilli I hear you ask? Probably but since I've never tried this without, I'm not sure how it'll taste. I reckon it'll be ok.

Timing...beans it something that puts a lot of people off because of how long it takes to cook. I generally cook mine in a pressure cooker but don’t worry if you don’t have one. You can pre-soak for about 3-4hrs and then finish the cooking on the hob. Beans need a lot of water. Like rice, it depends on how dried it is. I started with 500ml and gradually added. However, if you use too much, you can always drain a bit off before adding the chilli.

Traditionally, this is a palm oil dish and you might have seen shocking pictures of palm oil floating on it around instagram. Worry ye not, you don't have to cook yours like that. Just a few tablespoon of palm oil will do. However, if you are conscious of sustainability or just don't like palm oil, you can use coconut oil. No it doesn't make that much of a difference, especially if it's your first time of making this. Using coconut oil might be new but people have been making this dish without palm oil for ages...I promise it's fine. Did you spot the difference in the pictures? The one in the white was cooked with palm oil. As you can see, there’s barely any difference, not in taste either.

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Ingredients

✅ 2 cups brown Oloyin (honey) beans or Blackeyed peas

✅ 2 medium brown onions

✅ 2 cups frozen sweet corn or equivalent corn on the cob or tinned sweet corn

✅ 50ml palm oil or coconut oil

✅ 2 scotch bonnet (chopped or blended) or 1tb chilli powder (adjust to taste)

✅ Salt to taste

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Directions

Wash and place the beans and sliced onions in a large stock pot or pressure cooker and cover with enough water to cook until soft.

The beans is cooked when the back of a spoon easily mash it.

At this point, add some chilli, oil, sweetcorn and salt. Cook for another 10-15mins or until the Sweetcorn is soft. Enjoy!

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