Butter bean curry

There are many butter bean curry recipes out there but I doubt you’ll be able to find one simpler than this. I came up with it when I’d run out of my usual curry staples of garlic, onion and tomatoes and couldn’t be bothered to dash out to the shops.

Don’t let my list of ingredients scare you – I promise you you’ll spend no more than 10 minutes from start to finish as you have nothing to cut or prepare. If you don’t already have all these spices in the cupboard, I urge you to go out and get them (they’re readily available from Asian food stores and most ordinary supermarkets) to make your life easier when making curries in the future.

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

* 2 cans of butter beans
* 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (I tend to use rapeseed oil)
* 2 teaspoons of mustard seeds
* 4 teaspoons of cumin seeds (jeera)
* 2 tablespoons of ground cumin and coriander (dhana jeeru)
* 1 teaspoon of turmeric
* 1 teaspoon of asafoetida
* 6 cloves
* 6 small pieces of cinnamon
* 8-12 tablespoons of natural yoghurt (depending on how runny you want the curry)
* 1 lime
* Chilli to taste (you can use fresh chillies or chilli powder)
* Sugar or jaggery to taste (I don’t like to sweeten my curries as I prefer them on the tangy side, but I’ve been told I’m in the minority!)
* Salt to taste
* Fresh or frozen coriander to garnish

METHOD

1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds
3. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, lower the heat and add the ground cumin and coriander, turmeric, asafoetida, cloves and cinnamon – be careful not to burn the spices.
4. Add the drained and rinsed butter beans
5. Once all the beans are covered with the spices and hot, add the natural yoghurt, lime, chilli, salt and sugar if wanted.
6. After simmering for a couple of minutes, garnish with coriander.

Serve with rice or chapatis and a salad.