Experience a taste of the Cape with this flavorful dish that brings together warm spices, creamy textures, and a hint of sweetness. Inspired by Cape Malay cuisine, these fragrant mushrooms are paired with a velvety butter bean mash and topped with nutty brown butter sultanas for a perfect balance of savory and sweet. It’s a comforting yet elegant meal that’s easy to make and bursting with rich, aromatic flavours.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Butter bean mash:
2 large (ideally white flesh) sweet potatoes, peeled
2 x 400g tins butter beans, drained & rinsed
1 tsp garlic powder
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Brown butter sultanas:
4 Tbsp butter
100g sultanas
4 Tbsp sherry vinegar
Handful fresh curry leaves
Mushrooms:
500g mixed cultivated mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp Cape Malay curry powder / spice mix
1 red onion, sliced thinly into little petals
To serve:
Store bought poppadoms
Olive oil, for cooking
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
For the butter bean mash:
Boil or steam the sweet potatoes until very tender.
Add the sweet potatoes, butter beans and garlic powder to a food processor.
Pulse until chunky.
Pour in the olive oil and lemon juice and season well with salt and pepper.
Pulse until smooth.
Add a little water if you need more liquid to achieve a nice consistency.
Scrape into a saucepan and heat just before serving.
For the brown butter sultanas:
Cook the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat until foam subsides and butter is golden brown.
Immediately transfer butter to a bowl.
Add the sultanas and vinegar and mix.
Keep in a warm place until serving.
For the curry leaves:
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a small frying pan.
When hot, add the curry leaves.
Swirl them around the oil and cook for about a minute until they crisp at the edges.
Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel to crisp up for serving.
For the mushrooms:
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan.
Add the oil you cooked the curry leaves in to add flavour and avoid wastage.
When hot, add the mushrooms.
Sprinkle with curry powder and season with salt and pepper.
When the mushrooms are golden brown add the onion.
Cook until the onion is just tender but still has a nice little bite to it.
Serve the mushrooms on a bed of warm butter bean mash.
Spoon over some brown butter sultanas.
Finish with crispy curry leaves and enjoy!