How to Peel Beans in 5 Minutes Using Electric Blender

Beans is one of the common staples in Nigeria, specifically for its richness in protein as well as its versatility. We use beans to make different kinds of foods such as beans and stew, porridge beans, moi-moi, akara, beans soup, etc.

Moi-moi, akara and beans soup especially require the beans to be peeled first before anything else. This peeling process can discourage even the best of cooks because of the time-consuming factor. But not to worry, this article will help you to overcome your reluctance.

There are majorly three kinds of beans in Nigeria, namely oloyin beans also known as honey beans, olo beans, iron beans (white beans). It is advisable to use honey beans because it is sweeter, as the name suggests, and also has a lesser cooking time.

Considering that I mostly enjoy making my own meals, it was only long before I could give in to my moi-moi and akara cravings. For two reasons, I was initially reluctant to embark on the mission. First, I had never used electric blender to blend beans before and so, I was afraid of what the outcome would be. Second, I did not enjoy the peeling process. However, after a series of online search and watching cooking videos, I decided that trying would not hurt.

My first time, I had not discovered the peeling hack. I peeled the beans the traditional way - soaking the beans in water for about 5 to 10 minutes and thereafter rubbing the beans between the palms in order to get the skin off. I particularly do not enjoy this process because of the resultant friction on my palms and back ache from standing on a spot for several minutes.

Fortunately, I came across a life-saving hack on Instagram one day. All I had to do was soak the beans in water just enough to cover the beans, for no longer than 5 minutes. Next, the leftover water would be drained and the beans would be pulsed in the blender for 10 seconds per scoop.

See what it looks like in the image below.

This method was unarguably faster than the traditional method. The only work I had to do was soak the beans and click pulse on my blender after scooping the beans in. Then, I would rinse off the chaff and in minutes, I would be through. Dry blend-peel - as I call it - was my go-to method and I was excited at the excellent outcome of the moi-moi and akara I made each time.

Before long, I noticed that it was beginning to feel like a chore. Why? I was no longer enjoying the process of scooping the beans in the blender in batches. (It had to be in small portions so that the blending process could be easily managed, otherwise the beans may end up broken into tiny bits and that would ruin the whole thing. You do not want that to happen.)

My rising aversion for this method was now evident in the number of days it took me to decide to make moi-moi or akara. Ha-ha! Well, luckily again, I stumbled on another Instagram video teaching another hack for peeling beans. Immediately, I jumped on it. Few days later, I felt like eating some akara and I decided to try out the new hack.

The video below shows the process.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/cb9576_2dedd700dafb45fdb3e3775d60d2e865/480p/mp4/file.mp4

When I replicated the hack, I made some mistakes.

1. Don't soak the beans. Immerse it in water only long enough for it to be wet and ready to be peeled.

2. Add plenty of water along with the beans inside the blender.

Similar to the dry blend-peel, use the pulse function on your blender and hold still for 10 seconds per time. If you are a newbie to this method, try it out first with a handful quantity in order to avoid wastage.

The wet blend-peel method was two times faster than the dry peel. 95% of the beans skin was off. I spent the time rinsing off the chaff and pulling out few stubborn beans skin left.

Finally, I have a method for peeling beans and I can now enjoy moi-moi and akara whenever I want.

Try this hack and come back to tell me what you think or how it turned out. Share with your foodie friends too.