Ali Honour. Photo: Jo Murphy
According to the Irish chef and food campaigner Ali Honour, “how we eat can fix our broken world”. She says: “We’re burning through land, water and energy at a rate that is unsustainable. We’re producing food that often does more harm than good, even while millions of people don’t have enough of it … Supermarkets are stacked with ultra-processed products pretending to be dinner. There’s no single silver-bullet solution to all these problems, but beans come pretty close.”
Here Ali shares her recipe for “beany, shroomy stew with dumplings” – surely a perfect supper for a cold January evening. It is taken from her new book Beans: Recipes for a Pulse-Powered Future, to be published later this month by County Louth-based Blasta (that’s Irish for tasty), which says it aims to do for cookbooks what “street food is to restaurants – a fun, accessible, and affordable way to eat exciting food”.
Ali, who is based in Cork, says: “I’ve met a lot of people from all over the world who celebrate beans in their culture: Indian, Mexican, Venezuelan, French, Italians, they all have beans in their diet. But in Ireland there is less of a tradition of using them in the kitchen – it’s tins of baked beans; maybe a memory of podding peas as a kid.
“I hope to show that with beans, we can make a difference to our health, our communities and the planet. Every bean dish you cook is a small, silent protest against a broken food system. A delicious, nutritious rebellion.” Or, as she puts it more bluntly, “a fart in the face of industrial agriculture”.
Words by Jane Ferguson
The bean and mushroom stew with dumplings. Photo: Jo Murphy
Beany, shroomy stew with dumplings
On a cold, stormy weekend, nothing beats a slow-cooked stew, and this little number is just the thing. I’ve called for cannellini and borlotti beans, but you can use whatever big, creamy beans you like.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
200g white mushrooms, sliced
200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp miso, Marmite or Worcestershire sauce
500g cooked cannellini beans or 2 x 400g tins, drained and rinsed
250g cooked borlotti beans or 1 x 400g tin, drained and rinsed
1 bunch of fresh thyme, chopped
2 bay leaves (optional)
200ml red wine
200ml water
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the dumplings
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
30g butter, diced
75g grated cheese (use up any odds and ends here, such as cheddar, parmesan or pecorino), plus extra to serve
Handful of fresh parsley, leaves finely chopped, plus extra to garnish
120ml milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F).
Heat the oil in a heavy-based casserole or large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook for 5–7 mins, until softened. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 mins, until they release their juices and start to brown.
Stir in the tomato puree and the miso, Marmite or Worcestershire and cook for 1 min, then add the beans, thyme and bay leaves (if using).
Pour in the wine and water, season generously with salt and pepper and bring to a gentle simmer. Lower the heat and let the stew cook, uncovered, for 30-35 mins, until nicely reduced.
To make the dumplings, whisk the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Add the butter, then rub it into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the grated cheese and parsley with a butter knife.
Pour the milk into the dry ingredients, then stir with the butter knife to form a dough. Turn out on to your clean worktop, then shape into a log and cut into eight pieces.
Remove the bay leaves from the stew. If you’ve used a casserole, arrange the dumplings on top. Otherwise, transfer the stew to a large baking dish, then arrange the dumplings on top.
Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 20-25 mins, until the dumplings are golden and cooked through.
To serve, divide the stew and dumplings among four bowls. Top each one with a little extra grated cheese and parsley.
Beans: Recipes for a Pulse-Powered Future by Ali Honour will be published on 29 January (Blasta Books, £15)