Easy Bean Curry

In the search for an easy new bean recipe, I ran across two which I combined to make a dish we all like.  One recipe is from the Rancho Gordo website.  We get our beans from there when we can as they have the most amazing heirloom beans.  They are a real treat but are pricey as you can expect.  The other recipe was from allrecipes.com.  We make a spicier version for the adults while the kids like it with a lower amount of curry powder.  Our curry powder is noted on the label to be hot so you need to watch what kind you are using, adjusting the recipe as needed.  I enjoy it without the tomatoes, too.  It took adding the tomatoes to get my kids to eat it.

Ingredients
1/2 pound dry beans (Scarlet Runners, Garbanzos, Christmas Limas)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon (kid version) or 1 1/2 tablespoons (adult version) curry powder
2 large cloves garlic, minced
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
salt to taste

Directions
Cook the beans.  A pressure cooker is the fastest but, if you have time, a slow cooker produces a nice tender bean (currently my favorite way to cook beans).  Rinse and place beans in slow cooker on low in the morning with an abundance of water.  6-8 hours later you have a very tender bean. (You can soak the beans the night before and reduce the amount of time needed for cooking.  If you are using Rancho Gordo beans, soaking is not needed.)

Once beans are cooked, sauté onion is 1/2 cup water for about 5 minutes until softened. Add garlic for about 2 minutes.  Add more water if needed so contents do not burn.  Add curry powder, cumin, beans, tomatoes, and more water to desired consistency.  Simmer on low for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add salt to taste.

2 out of 3 children prefer it with guacamole.  Tastes great over steamed brown rice.

  *Tip: If you cook an entire 1 pound bag at a time, you can put 1/2 of the cooked beans into a mason jar, allow beans to cool, and place jar in freezer or fridge for later use.  A pound of dry beans makes about 4 regular sized cans of beans.  (If divided evenly, the contents of each mason jar would be about 2 cans of beans).