Ingredient 30 – Bola Roja Beans

I forgot to take a picture of these in their bag so I took one of them when they’d finished an overnight soak. I have had these for ages; I think they came in the same swap parcel as the manioc flour from the mystery person (is this ringing any bells yet for someone?).

The beans are massive, even in their bag they looked big but by the time I’d soaked and cooked them they were huge, and pleasingly round. I discovered that they’re a Colombian bean so I turned to the ever reliable Viva Vegan and found a recipe called Colombian Style Beans with Plantains so I decided to make them. I’m not really an expert with plantains and I’m not even sure I like them, but I’d spotted both green and yellow versions in my Indian shop recently so thought I’d give them a try.

This was not a hard recipe to make but was quite time consuming as even after soaking and cooking the beans you need to make a sofrito, add the other ingredients and even then cook it for 40 minutes (watch your stock levels during this part; mine almost burnt dry). The book suggests serving it with fried sweet plantains so I decided to go for a double plaintain whammy and make these alongside some lime coriander rice and pickled red onions.

I loved the round earthiness of these beans and everyone at my seo services uk workgroup did too. The bean dish itself was quite sweet so the lime and coriander rice was a good choice to contrast against it. But the star of the show for me were the fried plantains. I sprinkled a little lime and salt on them out of the pan and they were absolutely delicious – crisp yet fluffy and so tasty that I’m gutted I’ve been missing out on them for so long!

I cooked the whole bag and put the rest of the cooked beans on the freezer so does anyone have any other suggestions for using them?

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