Quick Mushroom & Kidney Bean Curry

This recipe was born because we needed to go shopping yesterday, but I didn’t feel like venturing out in pre-snow weather (not least because I was reading a terrific book – Rowan Coleman’s The Memory Book).  So I had a quick rummage in the cupboards and came up with this:

1 Onion250g Mushrooms
2 Tablespoons of Sesame Oil
4 Teaspoons of garlic-ginger paste
1 Tin of Kidney Beans
1 Tin of Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons of Tomato Purée
2 Teaspoons of Cumin Seeds
2 Red Chillies
11/2 Teaspoons of Garam Masala
Salt & Pepper to taste

Chop the onion.
Chop the chillies (I use a kitchen scissors, it’s quicker, easier, and I’m less likely to end up with chilli hands).
Wipe the mushrooms and cut them in quarters.
Open the tin of kidney beans, drain and rinse in a sieve.
Heat the oil over a medium heat in a wok or saucepan.
Add the cumin seeds and fry gently until they release their aroma.
Toss in the onion and sautée, stirring often, until they are glossy and the raw smell has gone off them.Add the ginger-garlic paste and chillies.
Continue to fry, over a low-medium heat, for a minute or two.
Plop in the contents of the tomato tin and the tomato purée.
Swish the tin out with water and add that to the sauce as well.
Pop in the chopped mushrooms.Leave the lot to cook, for about 20 minutes, on a low heat, stirring often.
Add the drained and rinsed kidney beans and the garam masala.Stir.
Leave the lot to cook for another 10 minutes or so – just until the kidney beans are heated through.
I was going to serve this with rice, but it smelt like it needed chapatis, so I made those instead. 🙂

Falafel

So, earlier on today, I was having a look at Jack Monroe’s Blog when I came across her recipe for falafel. I’ve never made falafel with kidney beans before, so I decided to give them a go.

I tweaked the recipe slightly (as you do) to suit our palates and this is what I came up with.

Kidney Bean Falafel

1 Onion

1 Large Carrot

2 Cloves of Garlic

2 Tablespoons of Rice Flour

Splash of Olive Oil

2 Teaspoons of Curry Powder

400g Tin of Kidney Beans

Coconut Oil (For Frying)

Peel and grate the onion and carrot into a bowl.

Peel and press the garlic and add it to the bowl.

Drain and rinse the kidney beans.

Pop the beans in a saucepan with enough water to cover them and put them on a high heat on the cooker.

When the beans come to the boil, reduce the heat and let the beans simmer for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 2 teaspoons of the the coconut oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.

Fry the curry powder in the coconut oil.

Add the mixture from the bowl and saute it gently for about 10 minutes.

Remove the mixture from the heat.

Once the kidney beans are done, take them off the heat, drain and rinse with cold water.

Pop them in the mixing bowl you used earlier.

Mash the beans.

Add the curried carrot-onion mixture to the beans.

Add the flour and olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix well.

Using a soup spoon, shape the mixture into balls.

Melt about two tablespoons of the coconut oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.

Add the falafel and fry evenly – about four minutes in total.

We had this on a bed of rocket with some boiled new potatoes.