Wednesday 15 February 2012

Chadian Recipes: Irio


Keeping up with the Chadian food we're now offering you this delicious Irio! Irio is a staple base to a meal common in Chad and Kenya, where it is generally served with a sauce such as our delicious Chadian Peanut Sauce. It is essentially mashed beans, potatoes and vegetables and as far as I'm concerned you can't really go wrong with that! It tastes delicious on it's own, and even better when eaten with peanut sauce and our Chadian Sweet Potato Fritters - a perfect meal!!

This recipe makes quite a lot, so if you don't want to have a big dinner party so that there are plenty of people to help you eat it (like I did), you can still make the full amount because the leftovers make a delicious vegie burger! Just shape the leftovers into patties, roll in breadcrumbs and fry for quick, easy, healthy and delicious vegie burgers.

Ingredients
1 cup dried lima beans, soaked over night
1 cup dried peas (or use fresh or frozen)
5 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cobs corn
1/2 bunch fresh spinach (silverbeet) - or use more to taste
1 tbsp salt
Black pepper to taste

To Make:
1. Boil lima beans in plenty of water until completely cooked (you can even over cook a bit) and the skins have split. Drain and set aside.
2. Bring a really big pot of water to the boil and add the salt. Add the dried peas and boil for about 15 mins (if using frozen peas forego this step).
3. While the peas are cooking cut the corn off the cob (give the cobs to your guinea pig - they'll love gnawing on it).
4. Add the corn, potatoes and spinach to the boiling pot. Boil, covered, until the potatoes are well cooked.
5. While it is boiling, head back to your drained lima beans. The skins should be loose and split so just peel the skin off the outside and discard (this will give your Irio a smoother consistency). Add the middle bits of the lima beans back into the boiling pot and remove from the heat. 
6. Once the potatoes are well cooked, drain the whole pot of vegies into a big colander and then immediately put back into the pot.
7. Use a potato masher to mash the whole mixture together into a thick paste/mash. Obviously the corn won't mash down and the spinach will only mash up to a degree. But the rest of it should mash into a nice thick mash. Taste and add salt and cracked pepper to taste.

Serves about 8 as a side dish, serves 4-5 as a main accompanied by a sauce.


Check out our other Chadian recipes as well: 
Chadian Sweet Potato Fritters
African Loz (Almond and Pistachio Bites of Amazingness)
Kachumbari 
Maharagwe 


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