Trotters & Beans Curry

Place the sugar beans (pinto beans) into a bowl.

Rinse & soak the sugar beans in a bowl of water the night before preparing this meal. This will ensure that the beans cook properly. If you don’t have the patience to wait, you may also use a pressure cooker & cook the beans.

The next day, drain all the water out & place soaked beans in a medium sized pot.

Fill the pot with water & boil the beans with bicarbonate of soda & a pinch of salt.

Whilst the beans is boiling, prepare the trotters.

On each leg, there will be a hair bag and a patch of hair, using a small knife, remove the hair. For those hard to reach spots, you can also place it over a flame to burn off any hair that may be on the leg.

Once all the trotters are cleaned, place them into a pot.

Fill the pot with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt & 1 teaspoon ginger & garlic paste.

Bring to a boil.

The trotters should take a few hours to boil until it gets soft, test by poking a knife through the meat. Again, if you are impatient, simply use a pressure cooked to quickly cook the trotters.

After boiling the beans for some time the water may turn a reddish color but that’s completely fine.

When the beans are soft but not mushy, remove from heat & set aside. Be sure to also keep the water that the beans had been boiling in.

When the trotters are cooked throughout, remove from heat & keep the water that it had been boiling in.

Chop onion & set aside.

Grate tomatoes (slice in halves & grate only the flesh. Discard of the peel) or blend them in a blender or food processor (with the peel). When the tomatoes are pureed like this, it forms a much better gravy.

Heat the oil in a large pot & place onions in to cook. Add in the bay leaves, star aniseeds, curry leaves, jeera seeds, cinnamon sticks, thyme & curry leaves.

Mix & simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Once onions are translucent, add in ginger & garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder, jeera powder, garam masala & dhania powder.

Mix & braise for about 30 seconds.

Add in the grated or blended tomatoes,

Mix well. Add a little water if necessary so that the ingredients do not stick to the surface of the pot & burn. Cook the tomatoes for about 10 minutes.

When the tomatoes are cooked & have formed a thick gravy, add in the boiled trotters along with the water that it had been boiling in.

Mix well & simmer for 10 minutes so that the trotters absorb all the spices.

Next, add in the boiled sugar (pinto) beans, along with the water it had been boiling in.

Add salt to taste. Mix well & allow the beans to absorb the flavour for another 10 minutes.

Garnish with fresh coriander (dhania). I opted to emptying the Trotters & Beans Curry into a casserole first & then garnished it.

Serve this Trotters & Beans Curry hot with rice, bread or roti,

Take note that the curry will become thick after a while, simply reheat it on the stove & add water as required to reach you desired gravy consistency.