Simple Sugar Bean Curry
Simple Sugar Bean Curry is a staple in most Indian homes. I absolutely hated any kind of beans when I was a young girl. I remember the days I got home from school and if I saw that my mum cooked a Bean Curry she would never hear the end of it.
How things have changed. Now I could eat this Simple Sugar Bean Curry everyday if I have to.
Simple Sugar Bean Curry
I now absolutely love this Sugar Bean Curry and it is definitely a staple in our home. I love simple food. No gourmet food can bring me as much pleasure as a simple home-cooked meal.
I am so glad I learnt to cook because it gives me so much pleasure and when I see my family enjoying the meals I cook that really makes me happy.
Over the years I have perfected this Simple Sugar Bean Curry because I have probably cooked it a million times already. I have my bad days too when even a good curry can turn bad.
As they say practice makes perfect and I find that the more I cook the better I get at it. If you are starting out in the kitchen please don’t be disappointed if your food is not always perfect.
We all have to start somewhere but we learn through trial and error. Besides my food, tasting better, I feel more confident in my ability these days. I have tried things I would never have tried before.
Trust me even food bloggers have to research and try a recipe a few times before we get it right. So if you are passionate about cooking just keep going, you will get better I promise.
This Sugar Bean Curry goes really well with Roti and great for Bunny Chows. There is also one for Dal Roti. Tastes super yummy with this Bean Curry.
Sugar Bean Curry
Ingredients
- 1 cup/250ml dry red speckled beans
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil or 1 tbsp butter ghee
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 bay leaf
- 2 small pieces cinnamon stick
- 1 star aniseed
- 1 teaspoon ginger/garlic paste
- 1 sprig curry leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon ground soomph/fennel
- 1 tbsp medium masala
- 2 teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder
- 2 small roma tomatoes blanched and pureed
- 2 potatoes peeled and each cut into 4 cubes
- salt
- water
Instructions
- Soak the beans in some warm water for an hour. Rinse well and boil the beans until it is soft and tender. Do not add too much water when boiling the beans. Set aside
- In a medium pot heat the oil or butter ghee on low to medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and fry until it splutters
- Add the cinnamon stick, bay leaf, star aniseed and curry leaf together with the onion. Sauté until onion is slightly brown
- Add the ginger/garlic paste and fry for a minute
- Add the turmeric, coriander, fennel, masala, and kashmiri chilli powder. Cook for a minute. Add a few drops of water to prevent the spices from burning
- Add the potatoes and allow it to cook for 2-3 minutes with the spices. Add the pureed tomatoes.
- Cover and cook until all the liquid dries up
- Add half cup of water and allow potatoes to cook on a low heat until tender but not fully cooked
- Add the beans. Season with salt. Add another half cup of water and allow the beans to cook with the potatoes until the potatoes are soft. You can add more water depending on how much gravy you prefer.
- Garnish with coriander
Notes
- Soak tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes. Run some cold water over it, remove the skin and puree the tomatoes in a blender or use a stick blender
- You can soak your beans overnight to make the cooking process easier. Boil it before cooking your curry
- When adding water to your curry be careful not to add too much as you don't want a runny gravy, it shoud be thick. If you are using soft cooking potatoes you won't need as much water as you would need when using potatoes that take longer to cook
- If you do not have masala you can increase the amount of Kashmiri Chilli Powder
- If you 're having a lazy day you can replace the dried beans with 2 cans of Red Speckled Beans, Woolies sells an amazing one
I love these recipes
Thank you Suvana:-)
Excellent recipe. My mom always adds a dash of brown vinegar into the pot, before serving… Just creates that extra zing!
Thank you Aneesa. Will have to try that vinegar trick the next time I make some. Take Care:-)
So good..Thanks for the recipe , it’s so good with freshly made Roti/Naan 🙂
Thank you Sandhya. Agree about the Roti/Naan, just can’t have it without it 🙂
I just prepared sugar beans using your recipe and it was absolutely delicious!!!
I used to be able to prepare it but lol of late I been struggling and have have many attempts but I couldn’t get the taste right! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe :)! Glad to have come across your blog
Thank you Sukanya. I’m to happy to hear that the recipe worked for you:-)
I made this sugar bean curry and asded a bit of cauliflower. I served it with Roti and it brought back memories of Sunrise chip n Ranch. I am also from Durnan niw living in Jhb and although i have beem making bean roti for ages and how i do it is very similar, this recipe was just wonderful. Instead of the water i put in more pureed tomatoes. Just delish! So pleased i have found your site
Hi Sally! Thank you for the feedback. I am glad the recipe worked well. Take care:-)
This Sugar Beans tastes divine!! Finally I can make Sugar Beans that tastes amazing. Thank you ❤️
Thank you so much Bianca. Happy to hear that. It’s another one of my favorite dishes and is a staple in our home. Take care:-)
We never thought we’d be making our own authentic fail-safe bean curry until we tried your recipe! We’d often toyed with the idea of perhaps one day using a curry base and going from there. Last week we took the plunge and procured the necessary spices from our local spice shop (after all, living in Durban has certain perks!) We eagerly tried the recipe following it closely. Using the target consistency of the sauce we normally get when we buy bunnies or rotis, we judged that we didn’t need to add as much water to the pot later on in the cooking process. (We still haven’t figured out what cooking “until the moisture dries up” means!) Also since we double up the recipe, we found that we shouldn’t have doubled the aniseed as the flavour becomes too strong. (We’ve experimented with adding a clove since it’s often mentioned in other recipes and substituting with kidney beans) We’ve made this recipe three times in the last two weeks and are blown away by the results! It’s been a fun and bonding experience between my wife and I. We just can’t believe how good the curry turns out and that we have a whole pot on hand to have with rotis or as bunny chows. Thank you for sharing!!!
Thank you Michael! I am happy to hear you finally took the plunge and made your very own curry. Yes doubling up spices for doubled up recipes doesn’t always work. I guess with Indian recipes it’s all about trial and error and what works for your palate. Apologies about the moisture, I clearly didn’t pay much attention in English class…haha! I have now corrected the not so appropriate grammar. Take care and wishing you many more happy days in the kitchen.
THANK YOU! You just saved 20-year-old me from giving my brothers food that I don’t know how to cook 🤣
I am really happy to have helped Jerique. Well done to you for taking good care of your brothers:-)
Mine ended up like salty beans chutney ….
Maybe next time huh ?
Okay an hour or so later and everything ended up okay … Best Beans Curry by far
Greatly Appreciated …
Next stop Rotiville …. Eggs, Flour, Milk? Or maybe plain rice will do for now hahahaha !!!!
Thank you. Phew, so relieved you didn’t end up with a salty beans chutney…Lol! Good luck with the roti, no eggs or milk required:-)
Hi…would love to have a broad bean curry recipe…tanx in advance
Awesome recipe! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much Carmel:-)
A favourite recipe.. We are in the UK and its always a treat to cook home made food..
Thank you
Thank you so much Bhavnika. Glad I could give you a taste of home:-)
Only 1 problem with your recipe sweetheart is that it only makes 1 serving. It’s so delicious I ate just about the whole pot on roti.
Next time be sure to double the recipe:-)
I’ve tried the sugar beans curry recipe. I love it. Thank you
Thank you so much:-)
Recently bought a pressure cooker and was able to make this recipe. Came out great. Love your recipes
A favourite. Use my pressure cooker. Always comes our great and a quick meal to put together
Hi Lorraine. I’m on maternity leave and I came across your recipes. I absolutely enjoyed making this today and so did my husband and son. thank you. it’s the perfect recipej
Hi Lorraine,
Thank you for sharing your amazing recipe. It’s perfect!!!!
I really love bean curry but, like all recipes, it depends on the cook what the outcome will be. Now I make my own bean curry and control the heat and texture to suit me. The last time I had a really good bean curry was with a family in Chatsworth! (KwaZulu Natal)
Eaten with Naan or Roti – home made of course, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!
I look forward to exploring more of your recipes.
If you think you can cook and tend to jump the gun to correct recipes (like me), let the sauce thicken before you assume the spices aren’t right. I would use chilli powder instead of chilli flakes because I like the depth of flavour. I find chilli powder adds a nice deep tang (no seeds or stems), whereas dried chillies are clean heat. I added a pinch of sugar to balance the tomatoes, as I’d left out the pepper (we’re brown, we don’t have these lying around). I nearly died because this turned out to be spicier than expected. The next day it got even spicier because the flavours had really developed overnight. I also made the grave error of adding a full serving spoon of mixed vegetable pickle (this fixes anything, even broken bones, it’s so good) before tasting the “next-day-effect”.
The brain expects this to be a soft curry. Definitely don’t get too excited and rush to finish with cooked but too firm dried chickpeas – like I did. It’s weird. Don’t risk it.
Died. Delicious. This page is bookmarked.
My vanilla partner had sweat profusely. It was hilarious. He did finish his plate – three days in a row.
He can stay.