The pork and beans combination is good with tomato sauce but tomato sauce isn’t the only sauce the combo is good with. Pork and beans are good with coconut milk too especially if you add chilies and ginger. Beans, like meat, are rich in protein and they are filling too. In effect, you eat less meat but you don’t ingest less protein.
I cooked this dish partially in the slow-cooker. You can use any thick-bottomed pot but I have to warn you that dry beans take a long time to cook. You can use canned but it won’t be the same as slow cooking the beans and pork (with some bones) together so that the beans soak up all the meaty flavor.
- 1/2 cup dried beans any kind
- 400 grams pork with some bones
- salt
- 2 onion
- 9 cloves garlic divided
- 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 one-inch knob ginger chopped
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 finger chili thinly sliced
- 1 to 2 cups coconut milk depending on how much sauce you prefer
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Rinse the beans.
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If using a slow cooker, put the beans in the cooker, add the pork, 1 whole onion, 6 garlic cloves, peppercorns and bay leaf. Pour in enough water to cover the beans and pork. Sprinkle generously with salt. Cook on high for two hours; shift to low and cook for eight hours. Remove the pork. Cook the beans for another two hours.
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If using a regular pot, it’ll take four to six hours to cook the beans on low heat. The pork will be cooked through in half the time.
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Crumble the pork meat. Drain the beans. You can keep the cooking liquid for another use.
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Slice the remaining onion and mince the remaining cloves of garlic.
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Heat the cooking oil in a wok or other shallow pan. Saute the onion, garlic, ginger, tomato and chili for about a minute.
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Add the pork meat and the drained beans.
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Pour in the coconut milk. Season with salt. Boil gently for about five minutes. Serve hot with slice.
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Serve hot over rice.
