Sanjana Modha’s quick and easy recipe for baked beans butter masala | Quick and easy

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A bowl and a large pot of of baked beans butter masala with a bowl of chopped leaves on the side, all on a blue and white chequered cloth.
Sanjana Modha’s baked beans butter masala. Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian. Food and prop styling: Lucy Turnbull. Food styling assistant: Lilli Gavin.

Transform two tins of baked beans into this creamy curry

Masala baked beans, tadka baked beans, curried baked beans, spicy baked beans; all avatars of spice-laced baked beans are a mainstay of British Asian kitchens. We were raised on this stuff – use as a toastie filler, to smother jacket potatoes, or scoop them up with roti. Enter baked beans butter masala. With a sharp sweetness, a versatile tin of baked beans already has all the foundations required to build a brilliant butter masala, so all we’re doing is dressing them up. I like to think of it as though the beans are donning a frock made of all the good stuff: butter, cream and spices.

Baked beans butter masala

This creamy, dreamy baked bean curry is delicious with naan or served as any of the suggestions mentioned above. To make this vegan, use your favourite plant-based butter and an oat- or soya-based cream. Coconut milk also works in place of cream.

Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4

2 tbsp salted butter, plus a little extra to garnish (optional)
1 small brown onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 410g tins baked beans
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
4 green cardamom pods, smashed open and seeds finely ground
3 tsp garam masala
1 small pinch salt
150ml single cream
2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
2 tbsp chopped coriander, including stalks, to garnish

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, then add the onion and saute for three to five minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and tomato puree, and cook for another minute, until aromatic.

Add all the baked beans, along with all the sauce from the cans, stir in the turmeric, chilli powder, ground cardamom, garam masala and salt, and bring to a gentle simmer.

Stir in the cream (reserve a few tablespoons to serve), cover the pan with a lid and leave the curry to come to a simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring often to stop the beans sticking to the base of the pan.

Take off the lid and add the dried fenugreek leaves, rubbing them between your palms to break them into a fine powder. Swirl in the reserved cream and, if using, the extra butter, garnish with the coriander and serve.