Breakfast

Dishoom's Masala Beans recipe

Name: Dishoom's Masala Beans
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 300ml vegetable oil; 1.2kg Spanish white onions, finely diced; 35g garlic paste; 30g ginger paste; 1¾ tsp deggi mirch chilli powder; 30g tomato purée; 2 tsp fine sea salt; 600g good quality chopped tomatoes (or flavoursome ripe fresh tomatoes); 1 tin of baked beans (400g); 30g onion-tomato masala (see above); ¼ tsp garam masala; ½ green chilli, finely chopped; 1 tsp coriander leaves, chopped; a pinch of fine sea salt

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Baked beans by Dishoom that have depth, spice and heat. Serve with hot, buttered Fire Toast (sourdough cooked on a griddle pan) and House Chai.

Prep15m
Cook1h
Total1h 15m

dishoom indian vegan

Dishoom’s cookbook explains how they tried to create home-made baked beans but ended up tweaking Heinz. Fine by me. Any time I’ve eaten great, non-standard beans, the chefs have done the same thing.

You’ll need to make onion-tomato masala. If you thought Dishoom’s Chicken Ruby used a lot of oil, brace yourself; this recipe calls for 300ml. I skimmed the ingredients list and thought “hmm, maybe I’ll cut that down” then immediately saw the following, as if they’d read my mind:

Do not be tempted to reduce the quantity of oil, as it is necessary for the proper caramelisation of the onions. The oil is also useful for storing the masala in the fridge, as it forms an airtight barrier on the surface. This can be skimmed off when you come to use the masala. You could discard the oil at that point, or keep it to make something else — first-class fried eggs, for example.

I did as told, although I did halve the recipe. Once all the onions are cut, the oil doesn’t seem too excessive (there are a lot of onions; I’d be tempted to buy frozen, pre-diced in future).

Keep a hawk-eye on the onions while they fry. If they burn, you’ll need to start again. The book specifies that they should be:

…diced finely — a greater surface area allows for more caramelisation… the heat should be fairly high. Pay attention, and stir the onions very frequently. They need to cook evenly, without any parts of the mixture beginning to stick or burn. If this begins to happen, add a spoonful of water, and loosen any stuck pieces… The end result should be a dark, savoury, rich brown (not a light golden colour) with plenty of depth as well as sweetness.

The onions in the book are the colour of sun-dried tomatoes. The instructions say that they’ll take 25-30 minutes to caramelise. Be warned that you’ll need to babysit them constantly to achieve this colour in this time-frame. I use a lower heat while I get on with other jobs but they take absolutely ages to cook this way.

A quick tip, if you have the time (possibly while the onions are cooking): make Dishoom's ginger and garlic pastes. Once you’ve diced your way through 1.2 kilos of onions, weighing out ginger and garlic is a godsend. The book states that the pastes stay fresh for up to 10 days and can be used in loads of other dishes (obligatory botulism warning; please read — this USDA article specifies 7 days max).

If you can't be bothered, I’d use around 8-10 decent-sized garlic cloves (from a normal bulb, not a giant one) and 3-ish tablespoons of chopped ginger.

Once you've made the onion-tomato masala, the baked bean recipe is a doddle. If I may, and it's possibly a big ask after the pastes: make Dishoom's garam masala. Then use it to make their House Black Daal. If you've made any Dishoom dishes at home and found them to be good, but not quite restaurant standard, the garam masala will make a big difference.

Notes

The onion-tomato masala keeps for a week in the fridge, or several months in the freezer.

Recipe credit

Dishoom: From Bombay with Love (affiliate link).

Recipe

Dishoom's Masala Beans

Prep15m
Cook1h
Total1h 15m

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Onion-tomato masala

300ml vegetable oil
1.2kg Spanish white onions, finely diced
35g garlic paste
30g ginger paste
1¾ tsp deggi mirch chilli powder
30g tomato purée
2 tsp fine sea salt
600g good quality chopped tomatoes (or flavoursome ripe fresh tomatoes)

Masala baked beans

1 tin of baked beans (400g)
30g onion-tomato masala (see above)
¼ tsp garam masala
½ green chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp coriander leaves, chopped
a pinch of fine sea salt

Method

Onion-tomato masala

Place a deep, heavy bottomed frying pan (or a large-ish saucepan) over a medium to high heat. Add 300ml of vegetable oil.
After a few minutes, add 1.2 kilos of finely diced Spanish white onions. They should simmer rapidly but not sizzle too much. For the next 25 or so minutes, constantly stir the onions so they don’t catch on the pan and burn. The onions are done once they’re a deep brown (from cooking evenly, not from mixing with burnt bits).
Add 35g of garlic paste and 30g of ginger paste (roughly 8-10 medium cloves of garlic and 3 tablespoons of ginger). Stir constantly until the garlic turns a light, golden brown.
Add 1¾ teaspoons of deggi mirch chilli powder, 30g of tomato purée and 2 teaspoons of fine sea salt. Fry for 2 minutes.
Add 600g of good quality chopped tomatoes then cook for around 20 minutes, stirring frequently. The tomatoes need to break down and caramelise in the oil. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water if the mixture looks dry.
Transfer the masala to a clean jar, allow it to cool, then store in the fridge for a week. You can also freeze it (I divide it into 100g portions).

Masala baked beans

Tip a 400g tin of baked beans into a colander to remove the sauce (I don't rinse them).
Place a small saucepan over a medium heat and add 30g of onion-tomato masala. When it starts to bubble, stir in a ¼ teaspoon of garam masala and cook for 1 minute.
Add the drained beans, ½ a finely chopped green chilli, 1 teaspoon of chopped coriander and a pinch of fine sea salt to the saucepan. Stir well. Once the beans have heated through, pour onto toast and serve immediately.