AKA chocolate beans. They do it in Mexico! Well they put in on turkeys in Mexico. I contrived this delicious, unusual dish in Australia after impulse buying a bottle of red wine ‘with a hint of natural chocolate’ (Chocolate Cellar from the McLaren Vale). A couple of sips in and it was hard to prevail. We abandoned it for a nice bottle from the Barossa Valley with only an almost imperceptible (and no added hint of) chocolate flavour.
Determined not to waste the unfortunate purchase, I turned it into a delicious mole sauce with beans in place of the traditional dead birds, it went down a storm. You may not be able to get hold of chocolate wine; I dont recommend trying very hard. Add a few squares of dark cooking chocolate to taste. Serve with plenty of plain brown rice, no more strong flavours needed. Very experimental, serendipitous, delicious.
Ingredients for 2 (serve with plenty of rice)
a splash of vegetable oil
an onion, diced
a teaspoon of dried cumin seed
2 teaspoons of dried chillies (this makes a medium hot sauce, add more or less to taste)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
250cl (a third of a bottle) of red wine
a few squares of dark cooking chocolate
a tablespoon of soy sauce
the juice of a lime
a teaspoon of tamarind paste
a tablespoon of agave nectar
3 tablespoons of tomato puree
salt and pepper
a 400g (14 ounces) tin of mixed beans
half a head of pak choi coursley chopped
fresh coriander to garnish (optional)
Method
Sweat the onion in a splash of oil with a pinch of salt until softened (up to 10 minutes)
Add the cumin seed and dried chillies
Add the garlic, stir and leave for a couple of minutes
Add the wine, agave nectar, soy sauce, tomato puree, tamarind paste, a few good grinds of black pepper and lime juice
Add the beans
Stir well, bring to the boil and simmer and reduce for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until its a delicious thick sauce
Add the pak choi, stir through and simmer on a low heat for anothr 10 minutes
Serve over brown rice with some chopped coriander (optional)
