Eating In

This tasty and nutritious bean and pumpkin casserole is the national dish of Chile. It’s a vegetarian dish but you could add some cooked sausage, chorizo would be good, or some cooked bacon.

Serves 4
250g haricot or cannelloni beans, soaked overnight
4 tbsps. olive oil
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 large dried chillies
½ tsp paprika
500g peeled and seeded pumpkin or squash cut into chunks
250g sweetcorn, tinned or frozen
small handful of crushed basil leaves

Drain the beans and bring to the boil in fresh water, simmer until they are tender enough to be squashed easily between your thumb and finger. Drain, reserving the cooking liquor. Warm the oil in a deep pan and cook the onion and garlic until they are translucent and soft. Drop in the whole chillies, paprika and pumpkin. Stir in the beans and about half the cooking liquid. Cook over a gentle heat for about an hour until the pumpkin is tender. If the mixture is looking a little dry, add some more liquid. When the beans and pumpkin are tender add salt black pepper and basil. Cook for a further 5 minutes, check the seasoning and serve with pebre sauce (optional – it’s hot!)