Hulda
Cornchaff is a one-pot meal dish, very popular in Cameroon. This is one of the meals like Eru and Fufu that when I cook in my home, it is difficult to have leftovers, except I did a very large quantity. Everyone in my house just loves it.
Cornchaff is a very delicious meal and easy to cook when the two main ingredients (corn and beans) are precooked. If you plan to cook them yourself you need to consider enough time for that. In this recipe, I will show you how I prepared my ingredients.
How to prepare the main ingredients for Cornchaff?
I don’t like cooking with ingredients from the can when I can avoid them, I will prefer. If you live in Cameroon or an African country, you will easily have access to dry beans and corn. For those living in Western countries, it is not always easy to get them. In the UK for example, I can easily get dry beans, but not dry corn.
When I came to the UK, I couldn’t cook this meal, because I couldn’t find dry corn. One day, I found “hominy corn”(broken dry corn) in an Afro shop thinking it would help, but it was too mushy, and I didn’t like it.
Then I tried cooking it with popcorn, it was good, but it took a long time to cook. I also tried with fresh sweet corn.
Beans: you can use red or black beans for this recipe. Wash the dry beans and place them in a pressure cooker or something similar, add enough water to cover the beans and salt. Boil them until tender. If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can also use a normal pot. Therefore it is advisable to soak the beans in water overnight and cook them in the morning. Doing so will reduce the cooking time.
Corn: soak your dry corn or popcorn in water overnight and cook them in the morning using a pressure cooker till they are soft and tender. It may take up to 1 hour or even more to cook them depending on your cooker capacity.
Cornchaff
Ingredients
- 500 g dry beans or 1.2kg of pre-cooked beans
- 400 g dry corn or 1kg of pre-cooked corn or sweet corn
- 2 onions
- 30 g crayfish
- 3 tbsp green seasoning see the recipe in the blog
- 3 spring onions
- 3 country onions or 1 tsp country onion powder
- 2 odjom leaves or bay leaves
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp dry rosemary
- 200 ml palm oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups water or stock
- 1 hot pepper optional
Instructions
- If you are using dry corn and dry beans, please follow the preparation guide above
- In a large pot add the cooked corn (If you are using fresh corn don't cook them beforehand), 2 cups of water or stock, and all the remaining ingredients (blend them before adding them) except beans, Odjom leaves and oil. Let them cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat
- Add the cooked beans, Odjom leaves, and oil. Let them cook for about 5 to 10 minutes. Taste, adjust salt if needed, and serve.
