On Saturday, as part of the Peace Corps Benin Iron Chef competition, I joined six other Peace Corps trainees to make fried bananas and concada (similar to peanut brittle), both of which are favorites amongst the Peace Corps trainees. One trainee's host mom, who sells concada on the market, guided us in the cooking process. Here is the recipe for concada:
Ingredients:
- Two measures (2 kg or 4.5 lbs) of shelled peanuts
- 1/4 kg of sugar (whatever the quantity, the peanut to sugar ratio should be 8:1)
- Water
- 1 tsp lime juice
1. If your peanuts are not already shelled, do so first.
2. Set the shelled peanuts out in the sun for three hours to dry.
3. Roast the peanuts with sand in a large pot over a fire.
4. Put the roasted peanuts in a basket and shake to remove the sand (a strainer could also work). Save the sand for future use.
5. Rub the peanuts to remove the skin and split them into their two halves.
6. Separate out the peanut skins from the peanut halves by shaking them up and down in a basket (with the right basket, the skins pass through the holes, but the peanuts stay).
7. Sort out any bad peanuts that you can find.
8. Start the caramel by putting the sugar and enough water to cover it in a pot over the fire.
9. Add the lime juice and continue stirring until the mixture is caramelized.
10. Stir in the peanuts.
11. Form the concada by taking a "spoonful" of the mixture and pressing it into a flattened ball.
12. Continue until done.
These quantities produce more than 100 concada, but they were devoured quickly by the 10+ chefs on hand and our large families.
If not immediately consumed, concada has a shelf-life of six months to a year when stored in an air-tight container.
Ingredients:
- Two measures (2 kg or 4.5 lbs) of shelled peanuts
- 1/4 kg of sugar (whatever the quantity, the peanut to sugar ratio should be 8:1)
- Water
- 1 tsp lime juice
1. If your peanuts are not already shelled, do so first.
2. Set the shelled peanuts out in the sun for three hours to dry.
3. Roast the peanuts with sand in a large pot over a fire.
4. Put the roasted peanuts in a basket and shake to remove the sand (a strainer could also work). Save the sand for future use.
5. Rub the peanuts to remove the skin and split them into their two halves.
6. Separate out the peanut skins from the peanut halves by shaking them up and down in a basket (with the right basket, the skins pass through the holes, but the peanuts stay).
7. Sort out any bad peanuts that you can find.
8. Start the caramel by putting the sugar and enough water to cover it in a pot over the fire.
9. Add the lime juice and continue stirring until the mixture is caramelized.
10. Stir in the peanuts.
11. Form the concada by taking a "spoonful" of the mixture and pressing it into a flattened ball.
12. Continue until done.
These quantities produce more than 100 concada, but they were devoured quickly by the 10+ chefs on hand and our large families.
If not immediately consumed, concada has a shelf-life of six months to a year when stored in an air-tight container.
Alex, I will try again to send you a message, I have really enjoyed your posts. I think I would rather ride a bike across the US, than do what you are doing now. It sure is interesting though. Thanks for sending all the blogs. Love, Evelyn
ReplyDeleteI would have a hard time picking between biking across the US and moving to Benin. I'm glad to do both!
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