Baked Bean Curry

A few years ago, a stand opened at Cleveland's West Side Market featuring English food products. It was called "English Treats," and one of their main products were Heinz canned baked beans in a variety of "flavors," one of those being "curry." I tried a can of these curry baked beans, and I liked them, but I just really assumed it was a "flavor" of beans developed from the British close association with the Indian subcontinent dating back to British Colonial India, but later I learned the beans are actually Indian. I don't often mention brand names, but in England and other parts of the British Isles, "Heinz" canned baked beans are VERY popular. One of the ladies who worked at the food stand told me this, and she is from England. "It is my understanding" that similar is true in India, where, I believe, the Heinz baked beans are vegetarian. In the U.S., this brand of baked beans is marketed by Heinz as "Vegetarian Baked Beans" (you've got to admit, it's a catchy name that undoubtedly took someone at least 3 or 4 seconds to come up with). Anyway, if you like baked beans with meat, typically bacon, do it! And if your last name's Pruitt, "do it, Pruitt!" I use the vegetarian beans, but if you use the beans with meat, just don't tell me, I won't sleep for a week; other than that, it won't bother me. Understand too, use whatever brand name canned baked beans you prefer, and there are many good ones to choose from, and I only mentioned the Heinz brand, because that's how this all started. (Okay Randy, we get the point! Now YOU get TO the point! Geez!)

    

Baked beans come in various size cans, but use one that is between 14.5 to 16 ounces (415g to 450g). Use ground red pepper to suit your taste, but heat lovers will want a full tablespoon of red pepper, and Indians generally use that amount. This bean curry is often eaten on toast or with Indian breads like naan or chapati.

 

Ingredients: (about 4 servings)

 

1 can baked beans (14 1/2 to 16 ounce can)

1/3 cup chopped onion (white or red)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 or 3 green chiles (jalapeño or serrano are great), split lengthwise (or chopped)

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon ground red pepper (cayenne or other type)

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped

 

 

Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet or a sauce pan. Add the onion and saute for about 2 minutes, then add the chilies and saute until the onions soften, stirring frequently to prevent sticking or burning. Add the ginger, garlic, ground coriander, ground cumin and ground red pepper, mix well and saute for about 1 minute. Add chopped tomato and cook until the tomato is mushy (use a fork or spatula to press down on the tomato pieces). Add the beans and salt, mix well and cook for 5 more minutes (still medium heat). Stir in chopped coriander.

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Stint-This word is closely related to the verb "stunt," and it is somewhat more distantly related to "stutter," both words from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "(s)teu," and its extended form "steud/steut," which had the notion "beat, hit, pound, knock." This gave Old Germanic "stuntijanan," which meant "to make shorter, to make blunt." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "styntan," which meant, "to make blunt;" thus also, "to make dull;" thus also figuratively, "to dull the mind." Over the centuries the verb extended beyond "making dull" to "stopping (something)," then "limiting (something)," likely from the idea of "shortening," a meaning likely either added to or reinforced in Old English by Old Norse influence.^ The noun came about circa 1600 with the meaning, "a job limited in duties and/or time," which then broadened to mean things beyond work, as in, "Mary had a stint at home when her company closed for three weeks," or, "Joey's parents ordered him do a 3 hour stint studying, after he failed his arithmetic exam." (But he only studied 2 hours. Hey, I told you he failed his arithmetic exam. hahaha). Relatives in the other Germanic languages are tough to untangle from the verb "stunt" (to hinder growth), but German has the noun "Stint," meaning "smelt" (the fish that looks like a small salmon or trout, which is perhaps the reason for the name?).

 

^ Old Norse was another Germanic language, but from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. Its most prominent descendants are Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish. Old Norse speakers settled in parts of northern and eastern England about 1000 years ago, which added Norse words, meanings or grammatical influences to English. The direct "to shorten" meaning has not been found in Old English, although the "to make blunt" meaning common in the English of those times implies "shortening." Old Norse had "stytta," a relative of the English word and meaning, "to shorten, to reduce," and that's why it's main meaning may have influenced the English word.