Hello there!
This week we are traveling (again) to Cameroon with the “BH”!
BH stands for Beignets Haricots which translate to Beignets Beans.
As the name suggests, this Cameroonian food staple comprises of stewed beans and Beignets, also known as Puff Puff, Mikate or Atchomo in other cultures.
BH is also known as BHB, the last B being the acronym for Bouillie, a lemongrass and fermented-corn porridge.
Contrary to BHB which is mainly served in the morning for breakfast, BH can be found on Cameroonian tables at any time of the day and for different occasions including weddings and parties.
Tip #1: Given the soaking time (8 hours and up), I would recommend soaking a large quantity of beans, cook them and then store them in the freeze, so that they can be used at different times for different recipes.
If you want to avoid doing all of this, you can skip the first part of the recipe and use canned red beans, but they will not taste the same as the fresh ones.
Tip #2: Prep the beignets dough first, then cook the beans while the dough rises, so that you will only have to fry the beignets.
Tip #3: Regarding the ingredients, the recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of ground crayfish but these can be easily omitted or replaced with paprika or ground smoked tofu to make it vegan.
Well, without further ado, here’s the recipe for my Beignets Haricots.For the video instructions, scroll to the bottom of the page.
Bon Appetit!
Cameroonian Beignets Haricots (Puff Puff and Beans) with Video
Course: BreakfastCuisine: African5
servings30
minutes1
hour45
minutes3
hoursIngredients
- Beignets
475g Warm water
12g Active dry yeast (Levure de boulanger)
140g Sugar
500g Wheat Flour
½ teaspoon Salt
1,5l Vegetable oil
- Beans
250g dry Red beans (= 600g cooked beans)
1 Onion
½ teaspoon Baking soda
Vegetable oil
2 Onions (chopped)
3 Garlic cloves
2 Tomatoes (chopped)
6cm Ginger
100g Water
2 teaspoons Dried crayfish
1 Bay leaf
1 sprig Thyme
Salt & Pepper
Directions
- Haricots (Beans), skip steps 1 to 3 if using canned beans
- Soak the beans overnight or for 8h.
- Drain the water, rinse and place the beans in a large pan covered in cold water.
- Add in the sliced onions cover and cook for 35 minutes until tender. Add in the baking soda once it starts boiling.
- In a blender, mix the tomatoes, onions, ginger and garlic.
- Heat the oil in a large pan.
- Add in the tomato-onion mixture and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
- Add in the water, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the beans. Add in the crayfish. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the thyme and bay leaf. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, add in the scotch bonnet pepper and cover.
- Beignets
- In a bowl, dissolve the yeast with ½ the water.
- In another bowl, dissolve the sugar with the other 1/é of the water.
- In a large bowl/pan, sift the flour and add the salt.
- Add in the sugar-water and mix.
- Add in the yeast-water and mix.
- Energetically beat the dough until smooth.
- Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and leave to rise for two hours in an oven or at room-temperature if not too cold.
- Heat oil in a deep pot until hot. (You can test the heat by dropping a tiny bit of dough in it; it should sizzle and come to surface)
- Wet your hands, scoop some dough and drop a ball of dough in the hot oil. You can also use a spoon.
- Fry at medium heat until golden-brown.
- Remove and place onto a paper towel to absorb the oil.
Thanks for the recipe. It’s wonderful. Please can I get the quantities in cups and spoons and KGS.
Thanks a lot
Hello Louis! First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read through the recipe. I use the grams system as it is more accurate (I also live in Mainland Europe, so that’s also a factor lol). CEquivalencies can be found online but, again, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be as accurate?
Click the following link for baking conversions: https://www.annaolson.ca/baking-conversions
Thank you again and have a lovely evening/rest of the day.
Mich