Our next Staple Food Challenge participant is Sam, who works for Reform Radio – an incredible community radio station based up here in Manchester. They support young adults into employment by giving them opportunities to develop and practice new skills within their industry standard radio station. Pretty amazing huh?!
Just to recap, Sam is taking part in our Staple Food Challenge that gives our customers, aspiring chefs and influential food writers across the country the chance to guest blog on dev.bouncebackfood.co.uk and cook a recipe of their choice. The only condition? Their recipe has to include one of Bounceback Food’s staple products that we sell on a ‘one for you, one for society’ basis in support of FareShare UK.
Here’s Sam’s recipe for Feijao…
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Feijao or simply beans are the staple of the Brazilian diet. Served with both lunch and dinner, this popular side dish is also a deliciously healthy meal in itself and is found everywhere from high end restaurants, through to small shack-like service stations in the middle of the Amazon. Don’t be fooled by its dull appearance, cheap ingredients and ridiculously easy process, this is proper Brazilian home cooked comfort food that is so tasty you’ll hardly believe it isn’t more popular here.
This dish is basically just beans and water and can be made perfectly tasty with just these if needs be but will be lifted even further with just a few store cupboard basics. What is best about this meal is its adaptability, so you can add whatever you happen to have lying about. Finish with your favourite chilli sauce and serve with rice or bread or even on its own as a filling and healthy stew.
Ingredients
1 x 400g tin of Organic Red Kidney Beans from Bounceback Food (they donate the same one to your nearest food bank!)
Water
1 meat or veg stock cube
1 Teaspoon of smoked paprika
2 springs of thyme or 1 teaspoon of dried or other dried mixed herbs
1 clove of garlic peeled and smashed
Chilli Flakes
Rice or bread to serve
Method
1. Open the can of beans and drain all the liquid out, poor them into a saucepan and wash once with water and discard this liquid.
2. Cover the beans in about an inch of water and put on a high heat on the hob.
3. Add your chosen flavourings, in this example the stock cube, smoked paprika, thyme, garlic and chilli flakes and wait for it all to boil.
4. Once it has been boiling rapidly for one or two minutes, smash the beans into the liquid using a masher or anything you can find that’s suitable.
5. Turn it down slightly and leave to reduce. Don’t worry if it looks watery, the inside of the beans and the evaporation will both help thicken the liquid. After about twenty minutes you should have a think, brown looking mixture that I swear is so much more tasty than it looks.
6. Pile onto rice, mop up with bread and if you have it, smother with chilli sauce.
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What a fantastic recipe, thanks Sam! A perfect bit of culinary inspiration for the upcoming Olympics in Rio. We’ll have another recipe ready for you in March, watch this space!
