Slow Cooked: 200 exciting, new recipes for your slow cooker (17 page)

Put the beans in the slow-cooker crock. Add the finely chopped vegetables and garlic. Scatter the herbs and spices in and stir well. Season well and add the sugar.

Pour the vinegar and the mineral water over the beans. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8–10 hours.

When you are ready to serve, stir the beans well. The vegetables should be almost dissolved into them and the beans should be soft and collapsing with a thick black bean liquor surrounding them. I give mine a little squish with a potato masher just to soften them further.

Add enough stock or water to make the beans into a soup or eat as they are. They are best with a dollop of sour cream and some chopped spring onion on top. I serve mine on tortillas or with rice. The Pulled Pork from
here
works a treat here too.

Note:
If you’d like to do plain beans for freezing, simply cook the dried beans in 350ml mineral water with a pinch of salt on low for 8 hours. Drain off any cooking liquor, allow to cool thoroughly and portion them in freezer bags.

I have no idea who John was because I associate this recipe with a friend of my parents from when I was a child. Cynthia was from New Orleans and I never quite worked out how she’d come to Belfast of all places in the 1970s. She had travelled the world, knew all kinds of things that even the
National Geographic
didn’t and scared me a little with her serious demeanour, long liquorice paper cigarettes and her glamour. She also fascinated me and sparked much of the interest that led to me reading American Studies. This is the dish I recall her cooking.

Hoppin’ John is eaten throughout the Southern states of the USA, especially on New Year’s Eve, when the black-eyed peas (as they’re called in the US) are thought to represent good luck. It is usually made with rice as well, but the recipe written down years ago for my parents by Cynthia only has beans. I serve it over rice to be more traditional.

SERVES 4 (REHEATS WELL)

200g dried black-eyed beans

400g bacon cubes, pancetta or ham hock

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

650ml water

boiled rice, to serve

chopped spring onion, to serve

salt and pepper

Put the black-eyed beans in the slow-cooker crock along with the bacon, onion and garlic. Season well. The dish requires no other flavourings.

Pour the water over it all and put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours. Roughly mash some of the beans together with a potato masher before you serve them.

Serve over fluffy white rice and topped with some chopped spring onions. Leftovers are apparently called Skippin’ Jenny. The names are almost as good as the dish!

I first discovered moi moi at MTK Restaurant in Brixton, which serves Nigerian and West African dishes. Moi moi is a kind of steamed bean loaf made from black-eyed beans and is particularly popular at West African parties. For something so simple to prepare, it’s incredibly tasty and it makes a fantastic vegetarian main dish everyone will love.

Try to skin your black-eyed beans as best you can before you blend them. The best way to do this is to put the soaked beans in a bowl and use a hand blender to pulse them once or twice to crack the skins. Then put them into cold water and rub the beans between your palms so that the skins float to the top. Don’t worry if you can’t get every black eye off: I won’t tell anyone.

SERVES 4–6

200g dried black-eyed beans

250ml cold water

2 tablespoons tomato purée

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 onion, finely

2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

½ green pepper, finely diced

½ red pepper, finely diced

1 red chilli, finely diced

salt and pepper

Soak your black-eyed beans in cold water overnight. Drain and rinse them well and skin them using the method above. Add the skinned beans to a large bowl and start to blend them with a hand blender, adding in 250ml cold water to form a thick paste.

Once the paste is as smooth as possible, stir the tomato purée, mustard powder, onion, garlic, peppers and chilli through it. Season it generously. Pour the paste into a 1lb disposable foil loaf tin, leaving about 4cm to allow room for the moi moi to expand. Cover the top of the tin with foil.

Place the filled loaf tin in the slow-cooker crock and pour boiling water into the crock until it comes about halfway up the side of the tin. Put the lid on the slow cooker and steam the moi moi on high for 5–6 hours.

The moi moi will slip out of the tin easily when cooked and can be cut into slices. Traditionally it is served with hard-boiled eggs inside it, but boiled eggs don’t work well in the slow cooker, so serve them on the side instead if you miss them. Don’t forget to add some hot sauce to your plate of moi moi.

OK, it’s confession time: I don’t like kidney beans and since they are usually in chilli, I don’t really eat chilli either. But on a trip to California, I had a Tex-Mex style one made with just white beans that was so good I’ve spent the last decade and a bit trying to recreate it. All smoky from the chillies used, slightly bitter from the chocolate and creamy from the beans, it was fantastic.

This is the closest I’ve got to it without using an array of expensive dried chillies such as chipotles, anchos etc. The secret ingredient is a touch of instant coffee, which doesn’t add a mocha tint, but renders it smoky and reminiscent of cooking over a campfire. Don’t be put off by the long recipe list, this vegetarian chilli is very easy and frugal to make.

SERVES 4–6

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

2 dried red chillies

2 whole cloves

½ star anise

100g dried black-eyed beans

100g dried haricot beans

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons Marmite

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 heaped teaspoon instant coffee

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon tomato purée

1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes

400ml water

4 squares dark chocolate (about 25g)

sour cream, to serve

salt and pepper

Now I’ve scared you with a long ingredients list, here is a very easy and short recipe: Toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, dried chillies, cloves and star anise in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for about 2 minutes until they smell very fragrant. Crush them lightly using a pestle and mortar and add to the slow-cooker crock.

Put the dried beans in and then add the rest of the herbs and spices. Dollop in the Marmite, soy, coffee, sugar and vinegar along with the tomato purée and the chopped tomatoes. Season it all well, bearing in mind that the Marmite is quite salty. Pour the water in and stir it all. If the beans aren’t completely covered, add another 100ml. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the chilli on low for 8 hours.

About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat, break the chocolate into squares and stir through. Add a splash of water if the chilli looks a little dry. The beans should be coated in a thick sauce. Pop the lid back on and warm for another 15–20 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt in.

Serve spoonfuls of the chilli in bowls along with some sour cream, if you fancy it. Any leftovers make amazing nachos when spread over tortilla chips and covered with grated cheese.

This chilli will easily stretch to 6 servings with some steamed cornbread on the side (
here
).

Most chilli involves lashings of tomatoes to add colour and flavour, but this white version uses chicken and green chillies instead of kidney beans or tomatoes. I like to make this one in the summer while staying out of the sun to keep my Celtic skin going from white to red. The light flavour suits lighter, brighter days beautifully.

I make this chilli from scratch with unsoaked beans, so it’s a simple one-pot easy meal. I have never tried it with tinned beans as the dried ones become so creamy and lovely.

SERVES 4 (REHEATS WELL)

100g dried haricot or cannellini beans

100g dried black-eyed beans

2 fresh green chillies

2 onions, diced

2 cloves of garlic, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

4–6 chicken thighs

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

330ml beer (I used a lager here as you don’t want anything too dark)

150ml water

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

75g sliced pickled jalapeños, sliced

100g crumbly Lancashire cheese, to serve

25g fresh coriander, to serve

salt and white pepper

Put the dried beans in the slow-cooker crock and chop the green chillies, adding them in along with the seeds. Add the onion, garlic and celery. Skin and debone the chicken thighs and cut them into quarters. Add into the crock. Tie the bones together with some string and add them in as well.

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry frying pan until they smell aromatic. Remove from the heat immediately and give them a thump using a pestle and mortar or rolling pin to release the flavours. Toss them into the slow cooker along with the oregano, cloves and cayenne. Season well.

Pour the beer over it all. Make sure the beans are completely submerged by adding the water. Pour in the vinegar too. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the chilli on low for 8–9 hours.

Remove the chicken bones and stir well to break up the meat a bit.

Serve the chilli topped with sliced pickled jalapeños, grated cheese and fresh coriander. My local pound shop stocks a dazzling array of pickled and char-grilled veg in jars, so I’ve got quite into using them as a garnish on various things in between eating them straight out of the jar…

I came across this slow-cooked bean dish from Guernsey when I turned up at my friend Alex’s house for the inaugural meeting of our Twitter-based book group. I was expecting dips and chips to soak up the wine, but she had gone all out with the slow cooker since we were reading a Guernsey-based book and she felt we should have local flavours to accompany it.

The dish was so good I actually got Alex to write out the recipe long hand and this is my version of it. I’d just like to declare that I’ve never been to Guernsey, but I am aware of the hot debate on the island about putting carrots in a bean jar. Most people say no, but Alex does it and I trust her judgement on pretty much everything else, so I’m not doubting her now.

You can also make bean jar with pork instead of beef. A ham hock and a pigs’ trotter make a lovely rich, thick version.

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN MEAL WITH LEFTOVERS

500g beef shin or brisket

100g dried haricot beans

100g dried butter beans

1 × 400g tin flageolet beans

2 onions, chopped into 2cm pieces

2 carrots, chopped into 2cm pieces

500ml water

chopped parsley, to serve

salt and pepper

Cut the slices of beef shin or brisket in half and add to the slow-cooker crock. Put the dried haricot and butter beans in. Drain the flageolet beans and rinse well. Add them in too. They are quite inauthentic, but I use them because they are a favourite of mine and they thicken the bean jar beautifully.

Add the onion and carrot. Season well and pour in the water. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook your bean jar on low for 9–10 hours.

It should be thick and hearty with a real creaminess from the beans. The meat will have fallen apart into tender strands, so a little goes a long way. Sprinkle with parsley and serve in bowls. Try to serve this stew with good crusty bread and lots of Guernsey butter. I’ll even let you read at the table if you ask nicely.

When I was fifteen, I spent the summer with a family in Boston looking after their kids. No child in Boston doesn’t like baked beans, which are a local tradition due to the city’s connection with making molasses. This dark nectar is their secret ingredient. Unfortunately for my vegetarian teenage self, the other secret ingredient in Boston baked beans is salt pork and it was suggested I just pick the pork out and get on with it.

This biased me against baked beans until I got the slow cooker. Adding in some pomegranate molasses to give a savoury depth instead of meat converted me back to them and I love this Brixton version. I still don’t do them on toast though. Try the Boston Brown Bread with them (see
here
) instead.

Pomegranate molasses is sweet, sour and savoury all at once compared to the regular version. If you can’t get it, use some Fig and Pomegranate Relish from
here
and add about a tablespoon of vinegar to replicate the layers of flavour it adds.

SERVES 4

200g dried haricot beans