Recipe of the Day, Week No. 55: (Mashed Potatoes with Beans)

Steem greetings to all the amazing chefs on the Steemit platform and welcome to my blog as I share one of the many traditional delicacies in the Cameroon cuisine. This meal is commonly prepared within the traditional setup as breakfast, especially during funeral celebrations.

Modernisation has come and we now prepare it as lunch or dinner for the family with added seasonings to spice it up to get a savoury taste.

^{Mashed potatoes with beans.}

Ingredients Used

In the past, one needed just potatoes, beans, salt, palm oil and some hot chilis to prepare the meal. As I always say, “…cooking has no formula” I often developed my unique ways of cooking, What matters is the end product.
That said the following are the ingredients I used:

• Potatoes
• Beans (Preferably black beans)
• Palm Oil
• Salt
• Maggi
• Country Onion
• Onion

The game changer in this meal is the country onion commonly called in Cameroon rondelles. It is hazelnuts from the rain forest with a strong flavour like garlic.

Steps to Prepare the Meal.

Take a bowl of potatoes and prewash them to remove the ground particles before peeling them. After peeling, wash again with clean water.

^{My Peeled Potatoes}

I used fresh potatoes I harvested from my farm and it still contains a lot of water. This food does not require lots of water else it will be too soft and people will not like to eat it. I had to sprinkle some salt on the potatoes so that the salt would help to extract water from the potatoes. I allow it for about 3 minutes before adding my already boiled beans from my freezer into the pot.

The next ingredient to be added was Maggi and I chopped my onions and added them to the pot. The water extracted from the potatoes using the salt was not enough to cook and I added half a glass of water.

I placed the pot on the cooker at normal heat for about 15 minutes. I had to constantly check to ensure it did not get burnt. I observed the pot till the water completely dried off. I checked if the potatoes were ready to be mashed. As the water completely dried up, I had to add palm oil. Palm oil is rich in vitamins A and E and contains antioxidant properties considered to be healthy for our body.

^{Added Palm Oil.}

I allowed the pot on low heat for about 3 minutes to ensure the oil cooked well with the potatoes. I added the rondelles which is the magic in the mashed potatoes. The aroma from the rondelles will attract you to eat more. It was ready to be smashed and I had to go the local way using my specially crafted stick to mash it.

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My mashed potatoes with beans were ready and served as dinner.

I enjoyed the meal and my kids as well enjoyed it. The rondelles in it are good as an appetizer to those who have lost appetite. I used it because it works wonders to boost my kids' appetite.

That was my recipe for the day and I will invite @suboohi, @shiftitamanna and @edgargonzalez to share their recipe for the day.