I love me some beans!!! I know I say I love everything in the world lol but beans.. Beans! Heh! Beans hold a special place in my soul regardless of the shape and form they come in. I love them in my tacos, I love lots of them in my githeri, I love baked beans as part of my brunch and of course I love a good bean stew. Beans take up flavor so so well and when done right, they slap harder than a sister whose top you wore without their permission!! I have loved yellow beans for a hot minute now and they had to be part of this recipe. My chili cumin coconut milk yellow bean stew is perfect now for the final days of the rainy season and any other time of year as well! Beautiful to look at and without doubt, super duper tasty to have!!
Tag: coconut milk
The wind was blowing hard. I was walking as fast as I could. I hoped to get home before the rain could start pelting down, but no sooner had I finished thinking the thought than the rain started falling hard. I increased my tempo took out my umbrella. Despite having cover from the rain, I still got completely wet almost as though I had no umbrella at all. I thought of running, but that would be futile, so I instead decided to enjoy the rain. That is how November showers are; cold, large drops whose fury is only fanned by the wind. I was freezing by the time I got home. But at least I was rained on when coming back home rather than when I was going somewhere important or to meet important persons, right? I had a hot shower and decided to make something soothing for myself. Since I was not too hungry, I settled on a soup- best decision I made that day. Perfectly fragrant, creamy and aromatic; that is how I would describe my mushroom coconut milk soup which will very easily become your rainy season favorite <3.
One of the things I love about cooking is that you can transform one ingredient and have it in so many ways. For fish, you can have it fried, stewed, stuffed in bread, made into a patti and so many other different forms. In Kenya, fish is usually fried or stewed unfilleted and in many times whole. I love fish, and to be honest, I can have it which ever way it is served.
Today I made one of the tastiest fish I have ever had. It was filleted and I stewed it in coconut milk, garlic and lemon. Read on to know exactly how this went down:
Coconut milk is one of my favorite substitutes for using water or vegetable stock in my stews or various other dishes. In my opinion, using coconut milk is one of the easiest ways of adding more flavor or transforming the taste of a dish. Coconut milk is not a dairy product though. Even so, it has plenty of health benefits. It helps with improving skin and hair health, boosts the immune system, has plenty of antioxidants, has anti-fungal properties and many more.
You can get this in the supermarkets, and if you are in Kenya, I recommend coconut milk by Kara as it is of high quality. But you can also make your own coconut milk, and here is how you can do that:
Think about your childhood for a moment… If you were like most kids, there was always that meal you never liked to eat, despite it being healthy for you. Be it pumpkin, broccoli, peas or fish, there must have been something that you could not get down your throat. For me it was Matoke. I just found it absolutely unappealing, yet a month would not go by without my mum preparing it for us. With time, however, I really grew to like it and today it is one of my favourite Kenyan dishes.
One of my readers asked how she can prepare a meal without the use of spices and still make it tasty. My answer was simple: use the original source of the spice. For instance, instead of using ground garlic, use freshly pounded garlic cloves. I always cook with spices so I took this as a challenge and decided to make one of my favourite dishes, without spices. And let me tell you, it turned out better than I could have ever imagined.
From my heart to yours, I hope you enjoy this coconut milk stewed matoke as much as I did.