Maharagwe--(Spiced Red Beans in Coconut Milk)

This is a recipe fron Kenya. There are a few ways to prepare Red Beans in Africa and different areas seem to prefer different seasonings. The coconut milk in this recipe is the traditional way to make your own, but you can substitute canned to save yourself the trouble. You can also substitute canned kidney beans for the dried. Posted for ZWT, Africa.

• Ready In: 1 hr 50 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1  cup dried red kidney beans
• 2  yellow onions, medium-size chopped
• 1 -2  tablespoon  oil
• 2 -3  tomatoes, chopped
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 2  teaspoons turmeric
• 3  chili peppers, ground into a paste or 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2  cups coconut milk

Directions

1. In a large pot, cover the beans with water and simmer until they are just tender, about an hour. Saute onions in oil until golden brown. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and simmer several minutes until the beans are very tender and the tomatoes are cooked (about 20 minutes). Serve over rice or a stiff porridge.
2. For the coconut milk:
3. Makes about 3 cups.
4. fresh white meat of 1 coconut
5. Grate the meat by hand or process it in a blender. To extract the flavorful moisture from the gratings, it is easy to mimic the Africans' method of using a conical woven basket. Line a bowl with a cotton cloth such as cheesecloth, making sure that the lining is big enough to drape over the sides of the bowl. Dump the grated coconut onto the cloth and then pour 1 cup of boiling water over it. When it is cool enough to handle, gather the edges of the cloth and lift it above the bowl. Wring it with both hands to squeeze out the mlky liquid, which you should pour off and save. Repeat this process three times.
6. The first squeezing is the most concentrated, so you should keep each squeezing separate and use them in order (i.e., use the first squeezing as the first cup in a recipe, etc.).