I know I said my next post would be chocolate brownies, but I tried this last night and it was deelish. And let's face it, you'd only get fat on chocolate brownies.
Maybe I'll post chocolate brownies dependent on demand. Then maybe I can up my quota of comments (Rach, this is war).
Back to business. This recipe very kindly comes from my friend Emma.
Hearty Red Bean Stew
1 tin red kidney beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
half a white cabbage, chopped
2 or 3 carrots, chopped (the original recipe I got from a friend had green pepper but I much prefer carrots)
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili powder
enough stock to cover the veg
coconut milk/creamed coconut, as much or as little as you like
Fry the onion in a little oil then add all the other ingredients except the coconut. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the veg is cooked. Add the coconut and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes (Emma often make this ahead of time and then add the coconut when she's reheating it). Serve with baked potatoes, rice or crusty bread.
1 tin chopped tomatoes
half a white cabbage, chopped
2 or 3 carrots, chopped (the original recipe I got from a friend had green pepper but I much prefer carrots)
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili powder
enough stock to cover the veg
coconut milk/creamed coconut, as much or as little as you like
Fry the onion in a little oil then add all the other ingredients except the coconut. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the veg is cooked. Add the coconut and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes (Emma often make this ahead of time and then add the coconut when she's reheating it). Serve with baked potatoes, rice or crusty bread.
This is a really odd mixture of things, or so I thought until I did a little research. Apparantly the soy sauce/coconut mixture is an island (particularly Jamaica) thing, and by gosh is it yummy. Of course Jamaican recipes use black-eyed or pinto beans (along with goat...) rather than kidney beans.
I forgot to put stock in it and put in more soy sauce for flavour (just until it was salty enough). I'll try it with stock, but I wonder whether it wouldn't be better this way.
Right, all you who want to reduce your meat and up your pulse consumtion: get cooking!
5 comments:
We also made this last night and had it last week on holiday too - it's a great one to cook for a lot of people. I think I could eat this everyday, depending on what you serve it with it tastes completely different.
Eleanor, here's puzzle for you: I walk through Whitechapel market every morning. They sell lots of veg I don't recognise, and many of the stallholders don't speak much English. How can I identify the totally unfamiliar veggies they sell (I always thought I was a pretty cosmopolitan shopper, but there are loads that I've never seen before).
There are some that I could just buy and experiment cooking with (e.g. the ones that look a bit like pale green aubergines which I'm sure would work in a curry or roasted with spices) but the long thin sticks with bunches of leaves on the top could be anything and I wouldn't know where to begin.
What to do?
Tasted good to me. We used Pinto beans, yellow and green peppers (as well as carrots) and served it with rice. Some photos for proof: [1] & [2] :-)
It reminded me of a mild Thai red curry soup. I guess that was down to the coconut milk, chilli powder and perhaps the soy sauce. I reckon fish sauce instead of soy sauce would make it even more Thai-like.
I'll definitely be using this as the basis for future meals. It'll be ideal for when we've not much in. (We always have chopped tomatoes, coconut milk and, from now on, tinned beans and pulse-type things!)
Keep 'em coming!
Good man Tony! How come your pictures look so appealing? My food always just looks dumped on the plate! Maybe you can give me some hints. Jane, I'm not ignoring you, I'm just thinking.
Thanks! I can assure you that my food doesn't always look like that. I tend to make the effort if I'm going to publish the photos online.
However, I think that generally speaking it's easier to make food look good in bowls rather than on plates. And a sprinkle of something like finely chopped coriander or parsley always makes a dish look more special... but I ain't no Masterchef!
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