Many years ago my brother's wife Astrid served me baked beans for breakfast, which were absolutely delicious! Astrid took beans to another level! The surprising thing was how simple they were to make but more so, how much more tastier you could make a can of baked beans! Astrid's recipe was to fry an onion, add a dash curry powder and then the beans - this makes all the difference to livening up a simple can. Since I created my African Chef 'curry ketchup' I add this replacing the curry powder as I feel it adds a richer depth of flavour because of the combination of herbs and spices used in the ketchup !

Ingredients (Serves 2-4)

Method & Prep time mins - 10 mins

Begin by finely chopping the onion and chilli and add in a heated pan with sunflower oil. Fry onion until soft and then season with pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Next add 2 table spoon of AC's Curry Ketchup and cook for 1 minute.

Then cut the green pepper into bite size chunks and add to the mixture along with the tin of baked beans and bring to a light simmer. Until hot and ready to serve.

So after I published this recipe Astrid's best friend Tessil had to send me her version, I had to share it!

South African baked beans 

1 1/2 tbsp veg oil
Sauté half small onion until it's not crunchy, add 2 sprigs curry leaves
1/4 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp black mustard seed
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp masala ( curry powder)
Can of baked beans and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, add a little water to it if you feel it's sticking ( it's optional )

As an extra treat if I make it in a large pan I make space between beans and add two cracked eggs to it, to cook eggs I just put a lid on pan for a few minutes.

Enjoy x

© Malcolm Riley

Photo Credit: Sophie Baxter Photography