Make your own Baked Beans

I recently ordered some goodies from Hodmedod’s, including some Red Fox Carlin Peas. I wanted to make some baked beans as we eat a lot, especially now my daughter is home, and much as I like the Whole Earth or Mr Organic ones, I wanted to try making them myself. I used a pastiche of recipes…anyone else do that? I search around and see different things crop up and think ‘ooh that sounds nice’ and ‘maybe I’ll add that’ and it’s nothing like the original. I also had cooked a vast quantity of peas as it doesn’t take more effort or energy to cook a large pan as they need a rolling boil for the first ten minutes and that’s difficult to do in a small saucepan.

I wanted to make them vegan so I used:

• finely chopped onion, garlic, and yellow pepper sautéed in olive oil
• passata
• cider vinegar
• soft brown sugar
• a little bit of ginger for warmth
• smoked sweet paprika

I cooked the sauce for ten minutes or so and then blitzed it with the hand blender to make it smooth. It was too thick – and there wasn’t enough to coat the peas! – so I added about 300ml of water with a Kallo tomato and herb stock cube, and a dollop of umami paste which is fabulous stuff. I only had a dribble of cider vinegar so I added a teaspoon of thick syrupy balsamic just to balance it out as it works wonders with anything tomato-y.

With the stock cube and umami paste I needed virtually no salt, and I tend to add pepper on serving, so the seasoning was pretty perfect.

I have now packed up a set of small bags for freezing, and I have two jars in the fridge, ready to be eaten over the next couple of days. I love to spread peanut butter on the toast before topping with beans – deeeelicious.