Yesterday I had baked beans on toast for lunch. I was struck by how overwhelmingly sweet they were. Reading the can label, I saw that there were 5.5g sugar in every 100g which is pretty dreadful - so a 210g portion contained about 12g sugar. Why would anyone add this amount of sugar to a savoury food?
Today, I thought I would have a go at making my own baked beans. With no added sugar.
340g dry beans, soaked overnight, then boiled until done (I used a mix of beans which contained chickpeas, haricot beans, flageolet beans and aduki beans)
160g chopped onion
200g diced carrot
130g diced celery
4 cloves garlic
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 can chopped tomatoes
500g passata
1 teasp ground cumin
1 teasp dried oregano
1 teasp salt
I softened the veg in the oil for about 10 mins, then added the chopped tomatoes, passata, salt, cumin and oregano and simmered, covered, for 30 mins.
Then I liquidised the sauce, poured it over the cooked beans and simmered for another 30 mins.
Verdict: a bit on the sloppy side - the sauce to bean ratio was rather too high - but it tasted good. I had a ladleful of the beans over a slice of toast in a soup bowl for lunch. I've since added a can of chickpeas to the remainder.
