Koki Beans

Ingredients

• 400g dried black-eyed beans
• 250ml red palm oil
• 800ml warm water
• 1/2 onion
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 150g fresh spinach, chopped
• 2 stock cubes
• 2 tsp salt
• 12 banana leaves
• kitchen string

Before you cook

• Soak the beans in cold water for 1 hour, then pulse them briefly in a blender to crack the skins.
• Rub the beans between your palms under running water until the skins float off.
• Soak the peeled beans for another hour, then drain them well.
• Chop the spinach, the half onion and the scotch bonnet.

Steps

1. Pass each banana leaf briefly over a gas flame until it turns glossy and pliable.
2. Wipe the leaves clean and cut them into 25cm squares.
3. Blend the drained beans with the onion, scotch bonnet and 600ml of the warm water to a slightly coarse paste.
4. Scrape the paste into a large bowl.
5. Warm the palm oil in a small pan over low heat for 2 minutes, just until it liquefies.
6. Beat the warm palm oil into the bean paste a ladle at a time, until the mixture turns pale orange and almost doubles in volume.
7. Beat in the remaining 200ml of warm water, the crumbled stock cubes and the salt.
8. Fold the chopped spinach through the batter.
9. Lay two leaf squares crosswise in your palm and spoon in a heaped ladle of batter.
10. Fold the leaves up into a parcel and tie it with string.
11. Wrap the rest of the batter the same way.
12. Stand the parcels upright in a deep pot lined with leaf offcuts and pour in 5cm of water.
13. Cover the pot and steam over medium heat for 90 minutes, topping up with boiling water every 30 minutes.
14. Unwrap one parcel to test; the koki should be firm and slice cleanly.
15. Rest the parcels for 10 minutes before unwrapping the rest.