As I've said before, we don't do cultural appropriation here at This Is Cookable. This is inspired by the flavors of the Caribbean, from Jamaican jerk to curry to a little bit of Dominican goodness, but it is not authentic and I urge you, go find your local Caribbean restaurant, if you've got one, and try out the real deal, because it is amazing.
This takes a little while to cook but not so long that you can't make this a weeknight meal at the last minute. It's full of bold flavors and will make you think about sweet and savory in a whole new way.
You Will Need:
- Beans
- Meat?
- Pineapple
- Tomatoes
- Onion
- Peppers
- Spices
- Oil
- Salt and Sugar
Black beans
Okay, this shouldn't be a surprise, given the title of the recipe, but you don't actually need black beans. Pinto beans, pink beans, or even navy or Great Northern beans will work. I would steer clear of kidney beans, but in a pinch they might work. Go for light red rather than dark red. This is a curry so you might think chick peas would work, and I'm not saying they won't, but it'll taste very different. The beans add a nice earthiness which balances the sweet and spicy, and chick peas don't have that same earthy quality.
In a pinch, baked beans, washed off, will do, if you happen to live in a place where they're cheaper than plain canned beans. I hear that might be true some places. Baked beans are usually just small white or pink beans.
Oh, and if you're lucky enough to be able to cook dried beans, of course you can use those. I always use canned, mea culpa.
Whatever beans you use, if you're not going to add a meat, three cans will make four generous servings.
Meat?
We'll talk about this when we get there, but chicken or pork are fine here.
Pineapple
Go with me here. The simplest way to do this is pineapple chunks, in juice. Whatever you do, do not do pineapple in syrup here. The juice will add a nice fruity sweetness. Syrup will make it way too sweet.
If you don't like large chunks of pineapple, try to get the nibblets instead. Or you can chop up the pineapple chunks into smaller pieces before you add them. For that matter, if all you can find is pineapple rings, you can chop those up too. I wouldn't go with crushed pineapple, and unless you're totally hardcore, don't bother with fresh. Fresh is great for eating, but if you're going to cook it, just use a can. Whatever way you wind up going, one can's worth of pineapple.
Tomatoes
One small can of diced, petite diced, or the equivalent of whole. You could use fresh, but seriously, use canned. Crushed will work in a pinch if you have a small can (I'm never able to find small cans) or you have leftovers from a large can (about half) but it will make things a bit more tomato-y. Avoid stewed. You could even use a can of "tomato sauce" because the strong flavors will overpower any basil or oregano that might be in there, but only as a last resort. As a very, very last resort, a few tablespoons of ketchup or tomato paste, plus a half cup of water, might work, though I'd be tempted to just leave them out if I were this desperate.
Onions
One large diced onion or half a pound of frozen diced, roughly. It's not rocket science. Some, but not a lot, of onions for the base.
Peppers
Red, yellow, or orange are better here. I usually just use a pound bag of frozen pepper strips, but a couple of fresh peppers, either in strips or in large dice, will absolutely work. The most recent time I made this, I didn't have anything but frozen pepper and onion mix, and that'll work too; just use half a bag. Or leave them out. If you like their sweetness but don't have any on hand (as I didn't) add a teaspoon of sugar.
Spices
Okay, so I have a very well-stocked spice cabinet, so I'm just going to list what I put in and then offer options. I add Badia Saison Tropical, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, coriander seed, turmeric, fenugreek seed, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme, and a little cayenne and black pepper to taste.
Now that you've all stopped laughing or hyperventilating, that's just my recipe for Caribbean curry powder. If you have some Caribbean or African curry powder, use that. If you have jerk seasoning, use that. If you have regular curry powder and allspice and thyme, that's good too. Basically, you want some warm spices as a base, garlic and ginger, and then to make it Caribbean-inflected, it needs allspice and thyme.
Before anyone from the Caribbean calls me a heretic, I know it's not authentic, but it gives a good flavor. Your mom's green spice and jerk mix is safe. Please feel free to share in the comments though because all of us who aren't lucky enough to have a mom who has a jerk mix would love to hear about them.
Oil
Vegetable is fine. Cooking spray is fine. This meal is basically added-fat free if you use cooking spray and make it vegetarian.
Salt and Sugar
You know the drill.
You Will Also Need:
A large pot
It has to fit a decent amount of food. I use a wok for reasons I may eventually explain, but six or eight quarts will do.
And that's it. Wow, one-pot meal.
Let's get to the kitchen!
Heat your oil (at least a tablespoon, as much as two, unless you're watching your fat intake, in which case a healthy spray) over medium heat. Once it's shimmering (which is not an easy thing to get to show up on a camera or I'd show you a picture) add the onions (and peppers if they're mixed, otherwise hold off on the peppers) and sauté until the onions are translucent, a minute or two. You can add salt and a pinch of sugar now, to help bring out the natural sweetness of the onions.
Then add your spice. Depending on how intense you like your flavors, start with a tablespoon of whatever curry/jerk assembly you wind up using, then add a little more later. You're going to bloom the spices with the onions so nothing burns, just to mellow things out a bit. Stir. Keep an eye on things. If you're worried and things are sticking, add a little water, or even better the juice from your can of tomatoes.
Now is the time to add your peppers if you haven't already. Their extra moisture will help keep the spices from sticking and burning.
Once you start to smell those spices, after about a minute of constant stirring (depending on how much oil you use, your pot may be more or less dry by now), and the oil starts to separate out a little (this is hard to judge if you don't use much oil, so just call it a minute) add the tomatoes and stir. You don't want to walk away from this right now. Depending on how much spice you use and how much tomato juice there is, you may be more or less soupy. Don't sweat it, just get everything incorporated. Adjust your heat if need be.
Then, once everyone is playing well together, add your pineapple, with the juice. Stir again. Now you should have plenty of liquid and you can worry less about the bottom burning. Cover, adjust your heat until you have a healthy simmer going on but you're not going to scorch the bottom if you leave it for five minutes, and let it perk. Give it a stir to make sure it's not sticking to the bottom, but it really shouldn't.
Now, rinse your beans. Yes, even if they're plain canned. Sometimes you might want the cooking liquid, but it'll make the dish a little muddy and less bright if you use it here. Shake off the excess water and let them drain a little.
After about five minutes or so, the sauce in your pot should be melding nicely (don't worry, it'll come together even more once you add the beans). Take your beans and dump them into the pot as well. Stir until everything is mixed together. If the beans aren't covered in liquid, add a little water, but you really shouldn't have to unless your pineapple and tomatoes were very dry. Turn down to the lower side of medium-low and let it mellow. 15 minutes of slow simmer. Don't skip this... unless you're in a hurry, and no shame, we've all been there. In that case, please give it at least 5 minutes just so your beans don't taste canned.
Now, the elephant in the room: meat. Not elephant meat. No eating elephants.
I add chicken or pork, usually frozen, and stew until they're unfrozen and done. But this is a great vegetarian dish with just beans. And you can also add some shredded leftover rotisserie chicken, or you can grill up pork chops and serve them with, or really any sort of thing. This is the basis for plenty of variation. White or dark meat. I've never tried it with beef or lamb, and I can't get goat, but I imagine even they would work okay.
If you, like me, are lazy and are using frozen meat, the time to add it is after the beans have perked for as long as you're going to let them. For fresh, let the beans perk an additional few minutes (to make up for the extra time it takes to cook frozen. If your meat is already cooked, add even more time. And if you're just using beans, you could let them go for as long as half an hour.
Or, as I said, no shame, you're in a hurry, add the meat right now and cook for the exact amount of time you can get away with. Please don't serve undercooked meat.
Then you can take your meat out and cut it into bite-sized pieces, then stir it back in. That's what I always do. And that's really all there is to it. Taste it for salt and sweetness and adjust as necessary, then serve.
This is great by itself like a chili or stew, or you can serve it over rice. I actually like it over couscous (yes, heresy, I know) particularly if I'm in a hurry. It would probably be equally good over corn mush or polenta.
I don't have much in the way of alternatives to offer that I haven't already covered. Just try it and see what you like about it, then go from there. You can do that. This is cookable.
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