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Kerrie-boontjies (pickled curry beans)
We re-discovered pickled curry beans when our friend Hannie, who invited us for dinner, opened a bottle of this delightfully tangy yellow-green salad. It was real tasty and is very traditional South-African.
Because Hannie grows runner beans in her garden, she uses 2 kg beans to make a large batch of just over 3 litres. If you want to cook just enough for a single meal, a small 250 gram bag of green beans from the local supermarket will make about 400 ml salad.
We like our curry beans to be quite spicy, but you can tame it easily by reducing the turmeric and curry.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 250 gram fresh green beans
- 1 medium onion (approximately 125 gram), finely chopped
- 1/3 cup (90 ml) white vinegar
- 1/3 cup (90 ml) white sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) mild curry powder
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) turmeric
- ½ teaspoon (3 ml) salt
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) cornflour
Method
- Fry the onion in a little olive oil or butter until soft.
- Rinse green beans under water and snap off the stems. Remove strings if present.
- Slice the beans finely, add to the fried onion and cook together until the beans start to soften. Take care not to overcook the beans, you want it to be al dente.
- Make the sauce while the onion and beans cook together: use the cornflour and a tablespoon water to make a smooth paste. Heat the rest of the sauce ingredients gently in a small saucepan and stir until the sugar dissolved. Increase the temperature until it starts boiling, add the cornflour mixture and stir until thickened.
- Combine the sauce with the bean and onion mix. Bring it to the boil, remove immediately and let it cool down.
Serve cold as a salad.
Notes:
If you want to make a larger batch to bottle and preserve, increase the ingredients as follows:
- 2 kg fresh green beans
- 1 kg onion
- 3 cups (750 ml) white vinegar
- 3 cups (750 ml) white sugar
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) curry powder
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) turmeric
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) salt
- ½ cup (125 ml) cornflour
You will need enough preserving bottles for 3.2 litres.
Wash your bottles and sterilize in the oven for at least at for half an hour at 100°C.
Hannie’s method for bottled pickled curry beans is slightly different. Instead of frying the onions in olive oil, they are poached in boiling water: cover the onions with boiling water, drain after 15 minutes, and repeat.
Once the sauce is ready, add it to the bean and onion mix and boil together for a minute or two. Pour boiling mixture into sterilized bottles and seal.
Store opened bottles in the fridge.
Comments
This is such a great South African recipe Marietjie. I love pickles and am definitely going to give this a try.
Lovely hearing form you Juno. Hope you will enjoy your beans as much as we do. To tell you a little secret - Jaco is not a big fan of greenbeans as he calls beans "boing-bointjies" when they are overcooked. But he loves these pickled beans. I actually bought some more "imported from Australia" green beans yesterday to make more pickled beans.
Love your website Marietjie, I've been following it for about 2 years now!
One of the things I battled with once we got here to NZ, was adapting my 'tried and trusted' South African recipes to new kiwi ingredients. Much was lost in translation!
Keep up the good work - it's been a great help!
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement Renette. To be honest, the website is a joint hobby of Jaco and myself. He is the photographer, web guy and co-cook.
My mouth is literally watering as I read this!!!
I have been living in the USA for 6 years and miss good old South African cooking everyday!!!
I cannot wait to make my first batch. Thanks for this great recipe and a great site.
One question: "Hannie’s method for bottled pickled curry beans is slightly different. Instead of frying the onions in olive oil, they are poached in boiling water: cover the onions with boiling water, drain after 15 minutes, and repeat."
I like this method rather than frying the onions...but what do you do with the beans?
Hi Tom
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Hannie doesn't fry the onions - she only sort of poach / blanch them. Pour the water off and do it repeat the blanching thing.
The beans are cooked until just soft, and then added to the blanched onions. You could start by blanching the onions first, getting the beans on the stove and while the beans are just cooked (al dente), do the second blanching of the onions.
The only difference is that the onions are not fried, but are more crisp (but without much of the bite)
If you can understand Afrikaans, I'll quote from her recipe:
2 kg vars groenbone, kerf fyn, kook tot net sag
I kg uie - sny in dun repies, bedek met kookwater, dreineer na 15 minute en gooi dan weer kookwater oor.
Sodra die boontjies net net sag is, dreineer die uie en voeg by. Kook saam terwyl jy die sous maak.
Dit is wonderlik om hierdie te kry -- thank you so much! I am a South African, living in Finland and I love my SA recipes -- baie dankie and God bless you both! Myrt
Baie dankie vir jou mooi woorde Myrtle!
Brilliant recipe!!
Can I use French beans instead of runner beans?
Thanks Jan! I am sure French beans would work well!
The recipe I use has this addendum: Allow to cool a little then mix 2 teaspoon dry mustard with 2 teaspoons Golden Syrup and stir into bean mixture. It does make a subtle difference and the English that I have introduced to this typical South African relish love it.
Another way of presenting them: Use preserved peaches (halves) and fill them with picled curry beans. Serve on a a plate covered with shredded lettuce.
Hi Marietjie this is a delicious pickled curry beans. I've made this now twice for my family and they love it, especially my husband. Just need to gear myself up to make a large batch to perserve some in bottles. Thanks for sharing such lovely recipes on your website.