Beans, Onions and Peppers
Peppers and onions cooked down properly, beans in at the end, smoked paprika and acid to finish. A protein-dense dinner from a cupboard, in half an hour.
- Serves
- 4
- Total
- 30 min
The vegetarian dinner I actually make, as opposed to the one I'd write down to look balanced.
It works because of two things most versions skip. The peppers and onions get cooked properly, fifteen minutes rather than five, until they're soft and sweet and have given up their water. And the beans go in at the end, warmed through rather than simmered to mush.
Smoked paprika is doing the work that would otherwise need meat. It's the one ingredient here that isn't obvious and it's the one that makes it taste like dinner.
If it's not right
- Watery: the peppers didn't cook long enough to give up their water.
- Mushy beans: in too early, or stirred too hard.
- Flat: acid first, then salt. Almost always the vinegar.
- Harsh or dusty: the spices burnt. Thirty seconds, no more, and off the heat if the pan is hot.
Ingredients
Method
-
**Onions and peppers into the oil** over medium heat with a good pinch of salt. Spread them out and leave them alone for a few minutes at a time.
-
**Fifteen minutes,** stirring now and then, until they're genuinely soft and starting to brown at the edges. This is the whole dish and rushing it is the usual mistake.
-
**Garlic in** for a minute.
-
**Spices in** for 30 seconds, stirring, until they smell toasty. Smoked paprika scorches fast.
-
**Beans in,** with a splash of water or their own liquid. Warm through for 5 minutes, stirring gently so they stay whole.
-
**Vinegar in off the heat,** then taste for salt.
-
Herbs over the top, and whatever else you're adding.
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