Red and white bean curry

[Catherine]

We make this on a regular basis Very filling and you would not know you had no meat in it.

Red and White Bean curry
85g red kidney beans
85g haricot beans
55g black eyed beans
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion finely chopped
1tsp garlic puree (I use two garlic cloves squashed)
1tsp ginger puree
2tbsp curry paste
2 fresh green chillies (I omitted these and added chillie powder to taste)
2 tbsp tomato puree
125 – 150ml water (optional)
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander plus extra for garnish (omitted the garnish)

1. Soak beans in a large bowl for at least 4 hours or overnight.
2. Drain rinse beans and place in a heavy based saucepan, add enough cold water to cover and bring to the boil over high heat, boil vigorously for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for one and a half hours or until the beans are tender.
3. Heat the oil in a separate large saucepan, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and cook over low heat, stirring, for 2 minutes or until they give off their aroma. Add the onion and cook stirring frequently for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic puree, ginger puree, curry paste and chillies and cook, stirring for two minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their can juices and the tomato puree. If the sauce seems thick, add the water. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Drain the beans and add them to the sauce, then stir in the chopped coriander leaves. Cover and simmer for a further 30 minutes or until the beans are tender and the sauce has thickened.

I don’t follow the cooking times as things sometimes take a lot longer than the recipe says. You can use any beans you like or have in stock.

I also buy jars of ginger puree from the local Indian store and then open it and put a spoonful each into a ice cube tray, then when I need some ginger puree I can get one out instead of keeping it in the fridge and maybe it going out of date. I have done this with some Barts curry pastes, though they don’t all freeze well.

[PLUMPUDDING]

That sounds good Catherine. I made something similar last week using beans I'd saved and a tub of sieved tomatoes from the freezer and chucked in some frozen green beans, onions, and garlic as well as the Indian spices.

I've not saved beans for drying before and was very pleased. They were a good size when soaked and lovely and tender with no tough coat.

The variety is "District Nurse" from the Heritage Seed Library and they are also very good as a green bean.

I freeze the cooked sieved tomatoes in Chinese takeaway containers and you can use them as soup or add them to stews and curries etc. They come in very handy. I find the fine disc on a vegetable mouli gets out most of the seeds and skin and is a very quick way of processing the tomatoes.