Beignets Haricots (Cameroonian Puff-Puff with Spiced Red Beans)

Ingredients

• 300 g plain flour
• 7 g fast action dried yeast
• 40 g caster sugar
• 750 ml sunflower oil, for deep-frying
• 800 g red kidney beans
• 3 tbsp red palm oil
• 1 onion
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 1 scotch bonnet chilli

Method

1. 1

   Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and 1/2 tsp salt in a large bowl, then beat in about 250ml lukewarm water to a thick, smooth, sticky batter. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour until doubled and bubbly.

2. 2

   Meanwhile, heat the red palm oil in a pan over a medium heat, fry the chopped onion for 5 minutes, add the finely chopped scotch bonnet and chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.

3. 3

   Add the drained kidney beans and 150ml water and simmer for 10 minutes, mashing a few beans to thicken. Season with salt and keep warm.

4. 4

   Heat the sunflower oil in a deep, heavy pan (no more than a third full) to 175C, or until a drop of batter sizzles and rises at once. Never leave hot oil unattended.

5. 5

   Scoop walnut-size balls of batter with a wet spoon or your wet hand and drop them in, a few at a time. Fry for 3-4 minutes, turning, until deep golden all over and cooked through when one is broken open. Drain on kitchen paper.

6. 6

   Serve the hot puff-puff with bowls of the spiced beans, as Yaoundé's morning stalls do.