Wednesday, January 14, 2009

BAKED BEANS ON TOAST




Back in India, this was our all time favourite food. holiday brunches, evening snack, mom's quick fix to my friends hunger pangs.....

In kolkatta (my birthplace and where I grew up to taste some really yummy food), there was this place called FLURY'S (does that ring a bell to the calcuttans? that is if they are reading!!!!). A very English kind of a confectionery shop/restaurant, that had specials for brunches. And baked beans on toast was their all time famous breakfast item.



The baked beans that we get here in the grocery stores, is very different from the ones available in India. Here, its more thick (thanks to extra bit of corn syrup they must be adding) and sweet. When I started making this all time favourite dish at home I used the BUSH vegetarian variety, until one day my friend told me to use HEINZ. And that is what sent my taste buds down memory lanes. 

Well so here it is folks, a quick fix to satisfy a hungry stomach

You will need
  • Heinz baked beans- 1/2 can
  • chopped onions-1/2 cup
  • green chillies-1-2 chopped
  • coriander leaves-1 tbsp
  • grated mozzarella cheese-1 tbsp
  • red chilly flakes-1/2 tsp
  • salt and pepper- to taste
  • bread -2 -3 slices 
  • butter- to smear on the toast
  • olive oil-1/2 tsp
You have to
  1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. smear the slices of bread with butter
  3. toast the bread in the pre heated oven till nice and crispy. do not over toast it.
  4. heat the oil in a pan. add the chopped onions
  5. add the baked beans. here you might need to add some water as the baked beans is very thick.
  6. add the seasonings, along with the green chillies. let everything cook for about five minutes.
  7. place the toasted slices on a plate.
  8. top them with the baked beans, sprinkle some chopped coriander
  9. And lastly add the cheese.
  10. serve with tomato ketchup.

note: You can get innovative and use any bread. I used baguette as that is what I had. You could use regular white, wheat, or any other variety too. 

enjoy.

12 comments:

Usha said...

Looks yum..and so simple...my father in law loves this dish...and even though I am from Bombay I have heard about FLURY's... from a hindi movie of all places... :-)

notyet100 said...

yummy,..cn hve this nytime,..:-)

Srikitchen said...

looks yum!

Uma said...

mmm. looks so delicious Karuna! Have a great weekend.

Indian Khana said...

Yum..looks so delicious....

karuna said...

thank you usha, priyanka, srilekha, uma and priti. Ya its really quick and tastes great too.

tarasimi said...

This is making me hungry.... luckily i just bought a can of baked beans.. guess i know what the side dish to my dinner is tonight :) now for the main course ;D

thank you!

Natasha said...

I'm happy to see that I am not the only one who's crazy about bread and beans!

Anonymous said...

Okay,first I want to say that I personally like beans on toast because I eat and enjoy a much wider variety to foods than most people I've ever met or heard of.

That being said, "beans on toast" is NOT a particularly delicious dish for the average person. It's definitely one of those "wartime necessity" dishes that came out of Britains desparate housewives, and not a chef or even a fry cook.

I guarantee that people "got used to it" originally, and people who enjoy it now were simply served it regularly until it became a "food habit". That doesn't make it good food, that makes it "familiar" food. Big difference.

I only mention all of this because it's not one of those dishes you want to try in order to add it to the family's regular meal line up - it's not that good. Save your time and money on trying something else.

However, if you like preparing odd little things for yourself, this is perfect for the more "liberal" palate.

The reason people like the flavor profile in the first place, is that it blends sweet and savory (beans and butter) and two textures (beans and toast). However there are a lot of recipes that do it a lot more elegantly, and with a lot better blending of the flavors.

SShah said...

I am fan of baked beans on toast. If we dont wanna but a can which alternate beans can we use for this recipe. LIke can we use pink beans ?

karuna said...

SShah: Yes u cld use any beans. I am not sure what u meant by pink beans. U cld use red kidney beans. Soak them overnight, and pressure cook them in the morning. You can then saute them in garlic, tomato puree and some tomato saure, with salt, pepper and chilly flakes. It wld give a similar taste. Pinto beans can be a nice alternative too.
Hope that helped

Mina Joshi said...

Great recipe and as you say - can be eaten anytime. My dad who was a chef, often cooked baked beans in this way, as one can of beans went further and fed a family. I still cook my beans like you before serving it on toast!