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Eating and Cooking Lablab Beans
African njahi lab lab beans recipe is a plant and dish native to Africa
Lablab Bean Recipe
Ingredients
2 ½ cups black beans
1 ½ cups dry corn
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 peeled green bananas
2 peeled ripe bananas
2 tablespoons salted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Soak the dry beans and dry corn overnight with ½ teaspoon baking soda. Then boil one hour with enough water to cover. Add the green bananas boil 15 minutes then drain, add the ripe bananas and butter, salt and pepper to taste. Purée the mixture and serve with stew as a side dish similar to stiff mashed potatoes.
What is the LabLab Bean
The lablab bean is a climbing, warm-season plant that can grow up to 3 feet, and the climbing vines stretching up to 25 feet from the plant. The Dolichos lablab plant is a lesser known member of the bean family and is known by many names; gerenge in Ethiopia, njahi, Kikuyu and turtle bean in Kenya, gueshrangaig in Egypt, lablab bean, and poor man's bean.
Lablab beans are high in protein, folate, iron, vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. The lablab bean seeds contain large amounts of vitamins and minerals, but contain tannins and trypsin inhibitors so the bean must be soaked and cooked before the bean is eaten. The acidity from tannins is what causes your mouth to pucker and trypsin is an enzyme involved in the breakdown of proteins during digestion.
Cooking the lablab bean plant the leaves and pods are cooked like green beans, the flowers are eaten raw or steamed, dried seeds should be boiled in two changes of water before eating. Dry beans make stew and are mostly with a flat bread or rice. The lablab bean is an important food, typically served during traditional ceremonies including weddings. The seeds can be white, cream, pale brown, dark brown, red, black, or spotted depending on variety.
