Easy Bean Stew Recipe

Here's what you will need to make two good sized servings:

Main Ingredients

• 1 Pork Steak or Boneless Pork Chop
  
• A Piece of Chorizo Around 4 Inches Long
  
• 1 Medium Sized Onion - finely chopped
  
• 1 Sweet Red Pepper - deseeded and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
  
• 1 Jalopino Chilli (fresh not dried) - sliced (I leave the seeds in but remove if you like)
  
• 1 Stick of Celery - finely sliced
  
• 2 Cloves of Garlic - crushed
  
• 1 Small Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
  
• 1 Large Tin of Borlotti Beans (feel free to try other types see below for ideas)
  
• Quarter of a Pint of Water or Chicken Stock
  
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  

Spices and Seasonings

• 2 Heaped Teaspoons of Sweet Paprika
  
• 1 Heaped Teaspoon of Powdered Coriander
  
• 1 Level Teaspoon of Powdered Cumin
  
• 1 Heaped Teaspoon of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
  
• 1 Heaped Tablespoon of Dried Oregano
  
• 1 Heaped Tablespoon of Tomato Puree
  
• 1 Bayleaf
  
• Sea Salt
  

Brown Off the Meat

Cut the pork chop or pork steak into pieces about half an inch thick by one inch in length. Cut the chorizo into quarter inch thick slices and cut these slices in half to make half-moon shapes.

In a thick based frying pan or skillet (I actually use a wok myself), heat a couple of tablespoons of the olive oil until moderately hot. Add just the diced pork and fry until all sides are starting to brown. Using a slotted spoon remove the pork and keep to one side. Now add the chorizo pieces and fry gently moving them constantly for just half a minute or so, and then remove with the slotted spoon and keep to one side with the pork.

Fry The Vegetables

Add a little more oil to the pan and gently fry the chopped onion until it starts to go translucent. This should take a few minutes but be careful not to brown or burn the onion.

Next add the red pepper, jalapino chilli and celery and fry on gently for a further five or ten minutes until they begin to soften.

When the vegetables have been fried, make a space in the center of the pan into which you put the crushed garlic. Move the garlic gently in the space you cleared for a couple of minutes to cook it through, but make sure it doesn't burn. This stage makes sure that any bitterness is removed from the garlic by cooking it through, and reduces the risk of a nasty burnt garlic taste which can happen if you add it right at the start with the onions.

Add the Spices and Seasonings

Reduce the flame under the pan to a minimum and add all the dried spices and herbs (including the bayleaf but not the tomato puree yet). Gently stir the herbs and spices into the vegetable mixture to release the flavour from the spices. Again, take good care not to burn the spices. After about a minute, add the tomato puree and continue stirring for a further minute.

Add the Remaining Ingredients

Return the pork and chorizo to the pan and stir into the vegetable mix. Stir in the small tin of chopped tomatoes and slowly add the water or chicken stock (depending on how much liquid is in the tomatoes you may not need all the liquid, just add sufficient to get a nice thick sauce).

Finally add the borlotti beans, stir in well, add freshly ground sea salt to taste and gently simmer for around thirty minutes. Stir every so often and add a little more more liquid if it becomes too dry.

To Serve

You'll most certainly want something to mop up all that nice spicy sauce, so I usually serve this with a piece of warm pitta bread. But, some nice crunchy French bread or some garlic bread would go down great also.

Borlotti beans do work well with this, but you can try it with any type of pulses really. In the past I've used red kidney beans, fava beans, chick peas and black eyed beans and all work well.

If you want to make the sauce even richer, then add a couple of tablespoons of red wine right after you've fried the vegetables. Be sure to fry off the alcohol content to remove any harsh tastes before you go on to add the herbs and spice etc.

Even though this dish is quite healthy and full of fiber, it is never going to be particularly low in calories with all that olive oil. However, if you want to make it a bit healthier still, then you could try it with chicken breast instead of pork and chorizo.

I hope you've enjoyed my Easy Bean Stew recipe, and if you followed the instructions carefully I'm sure your family's plates will look like this!
Making meals using dried beans or pulses is a great way to not only improve your diet, you can also save cash at the same time!