Cannellini Beans Curry (also known as White Kidney Beans)
This recipe has been written especially for my son who phoned me up asking for the recipe for cooking these white beans as well as Kidney beans. It always gives me pleasure to know that he often refers to my blog.
Cannellini beans also known as white kidney beans are full of protein and taste really great. They are available ready boiled in tins as well as dried beans which need to be soaked in cold water before cooking. The best way to boil them is in a pressure cooker as it is quicker. I have always been very fond of any kind of beans such as the dark kidney beans, butter beans or black eyed beans and love them best cooked as a curry with a slightly sweet and sour taste.
Ingredients (serves 2):
- 2 cups of boiled cannellini beans.. If using dry Cannellini beans, you need to soak them overnight before boiling them until soft.
- 2 cups of crushed tomatoes ( you can used pasata or fresh tomatoes )
- 2 tbls cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
- 1 tsp whole cumin, 2 small pieces of cinammon, 3 small cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chilly powder
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 tbls lemon juice
- 1 tbls jaggery or brown sugar
- 1 small bunch of coriander and some curry leaves.
- 2 fresh green chillies
Method:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil and add the cumin seeds, cloves and cinammon and allow the cumin to cook until it looks dark.
2. Add the garlic, curry leaves and tomatoes to the mixture and stir.
3. Add all the spices, lemon and jaggery to the tomato mixture.
4. Cook all the ingredients until the tomatoes go soft and homogenous.
5.. Add the boiled cannelloni beans to the mixture and cook for a further 10 minutes on a medium heat. (If for some reason – your gravy looks too runny – you can add one teaspoon of corn flour to the mixture and that should thicken the gravy)
6. Serve the curry hot with rice and salad.
