Sousboontjies

Prep Time:

Cook time:

Serves:

Description
Sweet and sour beans in sauce. Modern South African “sousboontjies” are made from a speckled bean known as a sugar beans (lima beans).

Hettie Claassens describes the interesting history of this traditional South African dish in her book "Die Geskiedenis van Boerekos". Sousbone (sweet and sour beans in sauce) was first made by the Romans, who used vinegar, spices and honey. The 13th century Arabs made a similar dish with sweetened mustart, vinegar and raisins.

In the 17th century, the Dutch used prune juice and syrup or honey to make their version of sweet and sour beans, which they brought to the Cape of Good Hope when they settled there in 1652. By the 1740's it had evolved into a salad made with black-eyed beans (swartbekboontjies), butter and vinegar.

Ingredients

 * 1 cup dried sugar beans
 * water
 * 1 tablespoon cornflour (to thicken sauce)
 * 1 tablespoon sugar
 * 1 tablespoon vinegar
 * ½ teaspoon salt
 * white pepper to taste

Optional flavourings

 * ½ chilli
 * 1 laurel leaf
 * pinch of ground cloves

Directions

 * 1) Sort through the beans to remove any discoloured or damaged beans and small pebbles.
 * 2) Rinse the beans and soak overnight in water.
 * 3) Drain the beans and rinse well.
 * 4) Cover beans with water in a saucepan and simmer slowly until the beans are soft.
 * 5) This will take at least 2 hours, but might take longer.
 * 6) Add more boiling water if necessary to keep the beans moist.
 * 7) To thicken the sauce, mix a tablespoon flour or cornflour and a little water into a smooth paste, stir into the beans (or mash some of the cooked beans and stir in).
 * 8) Add vinegar, sugar and salt and simmer for another 10 minutes.
 * 9) It can be served warm, or bottled for future use.