Gonré

Ingredients

Cowpeas

• 500 gblack-eyed beans
• water, for soaking

The mix

• 2onions, chopped
• 4garlic cloves
• 3chillies
• or 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 2stock cubes
• 1 teaspoonground ginger
• 2 teaspoonssalt
• 1 teaspoonblack pepper
• about 150 ml water

To wrap

• banana leaves
• or large green leaves
• or foil, at a pinch
• string, for tying

To serve

• red palm oil, to pour
• chilli powder, to sprinkle
• or a pepper sauce

Directions

1. Rinse the beans in cold water. Cover them with plenty of cold water. Soak them for at least four hours. They swell to about twice their size. Rub handfuls between your palms. Add water and pour the floating skins off. Repeat all of that many times over. Keep going until almost no skins remain. It takes twenty minutes or more.
2. Put the peeled beans in a blender. Add the onions, garlic and chillies. Add as little water as you can. Grind it into a thick smooth paste. Stop and scrape the sides down often. Add water only a spoonful at a time.
3. Beat the paste hard with a wooden spoon. Give it a good five full minutes. Crumble the stock cubes into the paste. Add the ground ginger to the paste.
4. Add the salt and black pepper. Beat it through it all thoroughly. Taste a tiny amount for seasoning. Cook a spoonful first if you prefer. Preparing the leaves takes a moment. Wash the banana leaves thoroughly. Either makes them soft and foldable.
5. Cut them into rough large squares. Set a leaf square on the work surface. Spoon paste into the middle of it. Do not overfill the parcel at all. Fold the sides in over the paste. Fold the ends up to close it over.
6. Tie it with string if it will not hold. Fold all of the seams tightly. Set them seam side down in the steamer. Steaming them takes a good while. Set them in a steamer over boiling water. Stack them in loose open layers. Cover it over with a tight lid. Steam them for about forty-five minutes. Top up the water as it boils away. A dry pan burns and ruins them.
7. Let them sit in the wrappers ten minutes. They firm up as they cool slightly. Pour red palm oil over all of them. Sprinkle chilli powder over that. They keep two days refrigerated. Steam them again to reheat them.

Technique

• Steamed bean cakes run across West Africa as Nigerian moin moin, Cameroonian koki and others, all grinding legumes and steaming them in leaves but seasoning them differently.
• Cowpeas are native to West Africa and have been grown there for thousands of years, and their skins must be rubbed off, since skins make the cakes grey and coarse.
• The paste must be beaten hard for several minutes to whip air into it, since unbeaten paste steams dense and heavy.

Substitutions

• Ready-peeled cowpea flour is sold in African shops and saves the peeling.
• Foil can stand in for banana leaves, though it gives no leaf flavour.

Variations

• Some cooks add smoked fish or egg to the parcels.
• Moin moin in Nigeria is the closest relative.
• Akara is the fried version of the same bean paste.

History

Steamed cowpea-flour cakes wrapped in leaves, a Mossi market snack and the Burkinabè cousin of Nigerian moin moin.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gonré?

Gonré is a snack from Burkina Faso: steamed cowpea cakes in leaves, eaten with oil and chili. Steamed cowpea-flour cakes wrapped in leaves, a Mossi market snack and the Burkinabè cousin of Nigerian moin moin.

How long does Gonré take to make?

Gonré takes 40 minutes plus soaking of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 12 cakes. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Gonré?

Yes, within limits. Ready-peeled cowpea flour is sold in African shops and saves the peeling. Foil can stand in for banana leaves, though it gives no leaf flavour.

What is the most important thing to get right in Gonré?

Cut them into rough large squares. Set a leaf square on the work surface. Spoon paste into the middle of it. Do not overfill the parcel at all. Fold the sides in over the paste. Fold the ends up to close it over.