Alice’s famous beans in coconut

At World Kitchen in Leith events, Alice’s beans in coconut  disappear off the plates in record time and everyone wants to know how to make them.  Well, here Alice Musamba shares the secret and a little extra tip:  the coconut sauce can be adapted to suit many other vegetables. In fact at last night’s World Kitchen meeting she brought a pot of delicious mushrooms in coconut.  They soon disappeared off the plate too.

Ingredients:
2 cups dried African sugar beans or cannellini beans
2 big yellow onions, chopped
4 tbsp. Oil
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp. turmeric  or mild curry powder
2 cans coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Method:
It is best to soak the beans overnight.
In a large pot, cover the beans with water and simmer until they are just tender. Sauté onions in oil until golden brown add the remaining ingredients to the pot and simmer several minutes until the beans are very tender and the tomatoes are cooked. Add the coconut milk last and do not cover the pot whilst simmering for about 20mins, season with Maggie veg cubes. Serve over rice or Sadza

Ed: You probably also know Alice from another great cooking enterprise. Until recently she ran the very successful monthly CORE World Cafe at North Edinburgh Arts Centre. See their new Facebook page for details of the next World Cafe on 25 November.