Pork and black bean stew with salsa

Pork and black bean stew from the Hairy Dieters’ ‘Fast Food’ book is an absolute low-cal triumph on a traditional fatty Brazilian dish. But even more so because it manages to get my fussy teenage son to eat polish (kabanos) sausage and salsa, despite him ‘hating’ peppers, tomato and coriander. And yet he’ll wolf down this meal for fun – what a result!

The Hairy Dieters do a cracking spicy pork with chorizo one-pan dish in their second book which I haven’t got round to featuring yet on this blog, but I think I slightly prefer this pork bonanza as it tastes sublime, particularly with the salsa accompaniment, bulked out with the fibre from the black beans.

If you get the pork, bacon, onion and sausage chopped in advance you can rustle this up in about 20 minutes. What are you waiting for??

Recipe: Pork and black bean stew

Calories: 380 calories per serving

Serves: 4

Book: Hairy Dieters – Fast Food

Prep time: Approx 20 mins

Cooking time: Approx 20 mins

Ingredients: 300g lean pork steaks or tenderloin, 75g smoked back bacon, 1 large onion, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tsp olive oil, 100g kabanos sausage, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp dried oregano, stems from a small bunch of coriander (finely chopped), ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional), 2 x400g cans of black beans, 300ml hot chicken stock, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, flaked sea salt (optional), ground black pepper

Salsa: 1 tomato (finely diced), ½ red pepper (finely diced), juice of 1 lime, ½ tsp ground cumin, leaves from a small bunch of coriander (roughly chopped), flaked sea salt, ground black pepper

Cost per portion: Approx £1.66 (including the salsa)

Method: Trim the pork of any fat and cut it into thin strips. Trim the bacon of any fat and dice. Peel and slice the onion into thin wedges and finely chop the garlic.

Heat half the olive oil in a large saucepan or a casserole dish. Add the bacon and onion and fry over a high heat for 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic, pork and sausage. Cook for another minute.

Add the bay leaves, oregano and coriander stems to the pan, together with the chilli flakes, if using. Pour in the black beans – with their liquid – then rinse out the tins with the chicken stock and pour this in too. Add the vinegar and season with pepper and salt, if needed – don’t add salt at this stage if your black beans were in salted water.

Bring the stew to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. The texture should be soupy and not runny.

While the pork and beans are cooking, make the salsa. Put the diced tomato and pepper in a bowl and add the lime juice and cumin. Season with salt and pepper and add the coriander leaves. Stir to combine, then leave to sit until the stew is ready.

Serve the pork and beans in bowls, with the salsa on the side to dollop on top.