BLACK BEAN CURRY

Baked bean curry

Ingredients: (serves two)

tin of baked beans
250g basmati rice
medium sized onion
assorted vegetables (optional) (e.g. broccoli, courgette, cauliflower, leeks, anthing really...)
four medium sized mushrooms (optional)
1 clove of garlic (optional)
1/2 large tube of tomato puree
2-3 very heaped teaspoons of curry paste
big splodge of vegetable oil
vinegar and water or orange juice
plain soya yoghurt (preferably live)

Instructions:

1. cook rice in the normal way.

2. chop onions, crush garlic, slice mushrooms, chop any veg and add them to a high sided pan suitable for stir frying.

3. add veg oil and curry paste to same pan and stir-fry veg until it's soft around the edges.

4. add tomato puree, mix in and add liquid. Liquid can be either vinegar or orange juice. Cider might go quite well as an alternative. If using vinegar, use sparingly (unless like me you like food with a low pH) and add water too. see notes. It should have the consistency of custard, (but not the colour!)

5. Add baked beans, stir in and add extra liquid if necessary. cook for a further 3-4 minutes.

6. Add the youghurt and mix gently just before serving.

7. Drain rice as normal, serve on top of the rice, as you usually would with a curry.

VARIATIONS: recipe

a. after draining the rice, mix in with the curry and serve in bowls. (and eat with chop sticks)

b. instead of mixing in the yoghurt, put the yoghurt on top of the curry when you serve it