Curried Beans on Toast
Prep Time: 20 Mins
Cook Time: 60 Mins
Total Time: 80 Mins
Serves: 2-4
Bunny Chow is an Indian South African fast food that consists of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with curry. My version is an open-faced sandwich and is adapted from Bryant Terry's Big Beans, Buns and Broccoli Rabe. This recipe has much of the original delicious flavours such as the berbere spiced beans and potatoes as well as the deliciously fresh persillade (a parsley and garlic sauce), but is far simpler with fewer steps and a shorter cooking time. The addition of an egg on top, not only lends more protein to the dish, but when you cut through the egg yolk, it soaks through the delicious curried potatoes and beans and adds another dimension to the dish.
Ingredients
Persillade
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic
1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Rapini
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 head of rapini, ends trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of salt
Beans
1 540ml can white beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup yellow onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon berbere
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup diced tomatoes
2 cups of vegetable stock
1 large Yukon gold or red potato, diced into 2 cm cubes
Sandwich
1 egg per open slice of toast
4-6 slices of bread, toasted
Directions
Make the persillade. In a small skillet, combine the olive oil and garlic over medium heat, stirring often, until it starts to turn golden brown, about 3 minutes. Once cooked, scrape the contents of the skillet into a bowl with the parsley and mix to combine with a pinch of salt.
Bring water to a boil in a medium Dutch oven. Once a rolling boil, add some salt and blanch the rapini for 1 minute. Drain the water with a colander and let the water continue to drain. Once cooled, squeeze out as much water as possible. This is important to achieve any level of crispiness.
Preheat the oven to 425F. Place the rapini on a lined baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and a few pinches of salt. Cook for about 18-20 minutes until the edges start to brown.
While the rapini is cooking, in a large skillet warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt, and sauté for 5-10 minutes, until golden. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 3-4 minutes. Add the berbere and tomato paste and stir for 1 minute. Add the diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, and the potatoes. Simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 40 minutes.
In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Crack an egg for each person in the pan, and cook the way you like easy over or sunny side up. Salt and pepper to taste.
To assemble the open-faced sandwiches, place a piece of bread and top it with the bean mixture, the rapini, the egg and the persillade on top.
