Red Beans Curry with Basmati Pilaf and Charred Cabbage

This quick red beans curry with basmati pilaf and chard cabbage is so good it makes a perfect side dish or a fulfilling meal as is. Hey friends, Chef Wainaina here. This is a dish that comes together just so easily and works perfectly on any day of the week. All the ingredients used in this recipe will be shared in the description box for you. Into this preheating work style pan add avocado oil and once the oil is hot add onions, some salt. Once the onions start to brown add the ginger garlic paste. Add curry. I'm using madras curry. You can use any. Tomato paste. Just cook this off so slightly. Actually as for the curry you can get so many different varieties in supermarkets or in regular stores. If you have an Indian store around you they have very good curries. They are the masters of curries. Diced tomatoes goes in. One bay leaf. One green chili. With the half of the seed egg. These are cilantro stems. Once all these aromatics have come together in goes carrots, bell peppers, celery. The rest of the onions diced large. Sweat this just for a few minutes. black pepper. Add about a tablespoon of vegetable base. This is optional. You can actually use vegetable stock instead but this adds more flavor. Always be careful when you're using bases. Check the amount of sodium in them so that will adjust accordingly. Just some water. Cook until the vegetables are slightly softened. The beans are already cooked. This looks good. The sauce has quite thickened here. Check one of these carrots here. Nice. The red beans go in. This is about one big can. About 822 grams or about a pound and 13 ounces also. You can definitely cook these beans from dry. They will take you a little bit longer. This is a quick convenient way of enjoying red beans or beans or any grains for that matter. Check out on my channel. I will share a link on how to make beans from dry. Now just a touch soy sauce here. Worcestershire sauce. We're adding in a lot of umami and a lot of beef flavors. If you are making this dish as a vegan just be aware of the Worcestershire sauce. It has anchovies in it. Just a touch water here and then cook these beans for about 15 minutes. Remember they are already cooked. Now lower the heat on these beans and then move them to a back burner. A new pan. Heat all the way up. Some avocado oil. This is half of a small cabbage quartered. Season it with salt and pepper. Now this oil is smoking hot. Using a pair of tongs drop these cabbage wedges into the oil. The idea is for them to have a very deep sear at the bottom. Salt and pepper on the other side. So we want this to sear and steam at the same time. Meanwhile a quick check on our beans. Test for seasoning. We need any. Good to me. Heat all the way to low. Have them absorb all the flavors. Give this cabbage a quick look. Carefully give it a turn. Drizzle with some Worcestershire sauce here. Add the umami elements. Some soy sauce. Cover for about two minutes. Finish this curry with some fresh cilantro. You can use parsley. Lemon juice. Some lemon zest. Give this a quick stir. At this point we are done with the belly.