Mexican beans and fruit
Earthy, rustic beans are surprisingly good paired with fruit, as in this classic from the Mexican kitchen, where it is called frijoles con frutas. If fruit with beans sounds alarming, just remember that the tomato – an essential ingredient of our familiar baked beans – is also a fruit. This is a high-fibre dish, rich with vitamins.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- ½ medium-sized to large pineapple
- 2 green-skinned apples, such as Granny Smith
- juice of ½ lemon
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 ripe tomatoes, preferably plum tomatoes, diced
- 1 tsp hot chilli powder or Tabasco sauce, or more to taste
- 2 cans borlotti beans, about 400 g each, drained
- salt
- fresh coriander to garnish
Method
Prep:15min ›
Cook:35min ›
Ready in:50min
- First, prepare the fruit. Peel the pineapple and cut out the core. Cut a few fine sticks of pineapple for the garnish and chop the rest into bite-sized chunks. Core the apples; cut half of one apple into thin wedges for the garnish and cut the remainder into dice. Put the fruit for the garnish in a bowl, sprinkle with the lemon juice and toss to coat. Cover with cling film and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onions with the garlic over a moderately high heat until they are lightly browned and softened. Add the diced apples and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the dice are brown in places. Add the chunks of pineapple and cook for a few more minutes, stirring. Add the tomatoes and chilli powder or Tabasco and continue to cook for 10–15 minutes or until the mixture is sauce-like in consistency.
- Add the beans to the fruit mixture in the pan and stir well. Continue to cook over a low heat for 5–10 minutes to mix and mingle the flavours.
- Season to taste with salt. Garnish the beans and fruit with the reserved pineapple sticks and apple wedges and leaves of fresh coriander, and serve hot. For a Mexican-style presentation, accompany with flour tortillas plus a raw vegetable salad.
Another idea
A similar Mexican dish is lentejas costenas con frutas, or lentils with fruit. Instead of the borlotti beans, cook 150 g (5½ oz) brown-green lentils in 700 ml (1¼ pints) of water with 2 bay leaves for about 30 minutes or until tender, then drain. Add the lentils to the fruit mixture at step 3. This mixture can be seasoned with cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce instead of chilli powder; add with the salt.
Plus points
Tomatoes are well known as a good source of the antioxidants beta-carotene and vitamin C. But new research shows that the lycopene contained in tomatoes is even more important in the prevention of cancer, and is enhanced by cooking. * Pulses contain both soluble and insoluble fibre. Insoluble fibre provides roughage, lessening the risk of bowel cancer, while soluble fibre has been connected with lowering cholesterol levels in the blood, thus reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Each serving provides
C * B1, B6, folate, niacin, copper, iron, zinc
