What you'll need:
Tin of Baked Beans (Heinz best but any variety is good)
Peanut Butter (chunky)
Cashew Nuts (Salted)
Paprika
Tablespoon of curry powder (Tandoori flavour works best)
Two Tablespoons of double cream
Chicken Breast (skinned) AND/OR six or seven White mushrooms (latterly for the vegetarian option)
Teaspoon of brown sugar
Fish Sauce or Worcestershire Sauce (to taste)
Three large red chillis (sliced, diagonally is best)
Two (or up to six, to taste) Bird's Eye chillis (sliced)
Ok so this recipe came about when I was at Uni, when I only had a tin of beans, some ketchup, some chillis and some peanut butter in my cupboard. Hungover and starving, I mixed them together in a pan and what emerged from this most fortuitous of recipes was an embryonic version of what would turn out to be one of the yummiest dishes I cook; something of a trademark for me now.
First of all chop the garlic and put it in the pan with the ground ginger. Get a large dollop of peanut butter and melt it in the pan with the tablespoon of paprika with a little olive oil - take care not to burn it as it turns very quickly, especially over gas. Add a little milk to keep it runny if you need to. Add the tin of beans, bring to a bubbling point then simmer off. Letting the beans stick to the bottom of the pan is fine - its counter-intuitive, but what you are looking for is the beans to break down and form the body of the sauce. Add the chicken and the mushrooms and the handful of fresh coriander (Americans call it Cilantro, I think). Add the cream to ensure it does not go too thick and gloopy.
Stir in the cashew nuts and all the chillis, add a dash of Nam Pla fish sauce if you have it, or Lea & Perrins Worcester Sauce if not. Add the curry powder (and galangal if you can find some) and let the mixture go a deep brown colour. Mix it all up.
When you are sure the chicken is cooked through - 2cm cubes will take about ten mins at simmer - add a little more cream if it is thickening too much, as the beans as the break down act as a starching agent. There should be no visible signs of any beans in it now - it should all have broken down into a thick, flavourful gravy that the mushrooms and chicken are part of.
There you have it. It should be the perfect Asian balance between sweet and sour and bitter and savoury in taste, the first thing that should hit you is the sweetness, then the massive hit of savoury nuts and then the heat of the chills.
You can make this extremely hot indeed if you want to. I've found Scotch Bonnets go nicely into it, but avoid the south east Asian style chilli sauces as they are too sweet and can overpower that sauce so I'd recommend Dave's Temporary Insanity or Blair's Pure Death - something along these lines, a good tea or tablespoon in there (to taste, obviously) as it will add heat, adds to the colour and doesnt overpower the sauce - far from it in fact, it adds a fiery finish. I've tried it with a half teaspoon of Dave's Private Reserve in it and that was delicious as well for those of you who like it a little hotter again!
Its very versatile because you can have it in a baked potato, over chips, with rice or even with pasta because its so thick and flavourful.
In terms of ingredients it is a south east Asian flavour and feel, but baked beans are not used in cooking there - I often make it without the cream and chicken in it and with the mushrooms chopped very finely, because it makes an absolutely amazing curry paste base to add to curry ingredients in a curry pan as usual in Indian food. It also makes a delicious stuffing for fish as well if you are stuffing a mahi mahi or similar, then putting a small amount of this inside goes a long way.
You can even leave out the Indian curry spices and add basil, more paprika and chopped red habs, some dark chocolate and a generous splash of bourbon and it makes a bloody lovely Mexican chilli base to add to ground beef, Chorizo sausage, bacon ends and whatever else you want to put in your chilli!
It works as a great sauce for putting over chicken skewers as well!
My favourite way of eating it though is just over a huge pasta bowl of crispy French Fries
Tin of Baked Beans (Heinz best but any variety is good)
Peanut Butter (chunky)
Cashew Nuts (Salted)
Paprika
Tablespoon of curry powder (Tandoori flavour works best)
Two Tablespoons of double cream
Chicken Breast (skinned) AND/OR six or seven White mushrooms (latterly for the vegetarian option)
Teaspoon of brown sugar
Fish Sauce or Worcestershire Sauce (to taste)
Three large red chillis (sliced, diagonally is best)
Two (or up to six, to taste) Bird's Eye chillis (sliced)
Ok so this recipe came about when I was at Uni, when I only had a tin of beans, some ketchup, some chillis and some peanut butter in my cupboard. Hungover and starving, I mixed them together in a pan and what emerged from this most fortuitous of recipes was an embryonic version of what would turn out to be one of the yummiest dishes I cook; something of a trademark for me now.
First of all chop the garlic and put it in the pan with the ground ginger. Get a large dollop of peanut butter and melt it in the pan with the tablespoon of paprika with a little olive oil - take care not to burn it as it turns very quickly, especially over gas. Add a little milk to keep it runny if you need to. Add the tin of beans, bring to a bubbling point then simmer off. Letting the beans stick to the bottom of the pan is fine - its counter-intuitive, but what you are looking for is the beans to break down and form the body of the sauce. Add the chicken and the mushrooms and the handful of fresh coriander (Americans call it Cilantro, I think). Add the cream to ensure it does not go too thick and gloopy.
Stir in the cashew nuts and all the chillis, add a dash of Nam Pla fish sauce if you have it, or Lea & Perrins Worcester Sauce if not. Add the curry powder (and galangal if you can find some) and let the mixture go a deep brown colour. Mix it all up.
When you are sure the chicken is cooked through - 2cm cubes will take about ten mins at simmer - add a little more cream if it is thickening too much, as the beans as the break down act as a starching agent. There should be no visible signs of any beans in it now - it should all have broken down into a thick, flavourful gravy that the mushrooms and chicken are part of.
There you have it. It should be the perfect Asian balance between sweet and sour and bitter and savoury in taste, the first thing that should hit you is the sweetness, then the massive hit of savoury nuts and then the heat of the chills.
You can make this extremely hot indeed if you want to. I've found Scotch Bonnets go nicely into it, but avoid the south east Asian style chilli sauces as they are too sweet and can overpower that sauce so I'd recommend Dave's Temporary Insanity or Blair's Pure Death - something along these lines, a good tea or tablespoon in there (to taste, obviously) as it will add heat, adds to the colour and doesnt overpower the sauce - far from it in fact, it adds a fiery finish. I've tried it with a half teaspoon of Dave's Private Reserve in it and that was delicious as well for those of you who like it a little hotter again!
Its very versatile because you can have it in a baked potato, over chips, with rice or even with pasta because its so thick and flavourful.
In terms of ingredients it is a south east Asian flavour and feel, but baked beans are not used in cooking there - I often make it without the cream and chicken in it and with the mushrooms chopped very finely, because it makes an absolutely amazing curry paste base to add to curry ingredients in a curry pan as usual in Indian food. It also makes a delicious stuffing for fish as well if you are stuffing a mahi mahi or similar, then putting a small amount of this inside goes a long way.
You can even leave out the Indian curry spices and add basil, more paprika and chopped red habs, some dark chocolate and a generous splash of bourbon and it makes a bloody lovely Mexican chilli base to add to ground beef, Chorizo sausage, bacon ends and whatever else you want to put in your chilli!
It works as a great sauce for putting over chicken skewers as well!
My favourite way of eating it though is just over a huge pasta bowl of crispy French Fries
