Caribbean Curried Butter Beans

Creamy, soft and flavoursome curried butter beans when cooked over a course of several hours - vegan, gluten free.

Course Main Entree

Cuisine Caribbean

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 6

Total Time 6 30

Servings to 6 servings

Calories 573kcal

Author Charla

2 cups of dried butter beans lima beans (340g)
1 can of coconut milk 400ml/14 oz/ 2 cups
2 cups of water 400ml
1 large carrot chopped
1 cho cho christophine, mirliton, chayote, peel and chopped or use a zucchini/courgette
1 medium onion chopped
1 inch of ginger grated
2 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves chopped
2 small scallion sliced
3 bell peppers chopped
1 large tomato chopped
6 sprigs of thyme
1 teaspoon of coriander cilantro
2 tablespoon of curry powder
1 teaspoon of black pepper
½ teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of himalayan pink salt or more to taste
1 scotch bonnet optional

Rinse the dried butter beans several times before placing them in a large bowl with enough water to completely cover the beans and soak for several hours or overnight. The beans will swell the longer then soak and absorb some of the water.
Discard the water and rinse off the beans one more time and set aside
Saute the onion, scallion, garlic and 1tbsp of curry powder until soft and translucent.
Transfer the onions, scallion, garlic and butter beans into your slow cooker unit (my unit is removable so I don’t need to do this) add the other 1 tablespoon of curry powder, paprika, ginger, bay leaves, coriander/cilantro, black pepper, thyme, pink salt, cho cho, bell peppers, tomatoes and carrots to the unit.
Then add the water and coconut milk, stir, cover with lid and set your slow cooker to low for 6-8 hours.
A hour before completion feel free to add a scotch bonnet for mild heat and flavour.
Discard the thyme stems, scotch bonnet and bay leaves.
Do a taste test before adjusting seasoning if needed then serving accordingly.

Use dried beans because they are cheaper and work best in a slow cooker recipe. Cooked beans won't work for this recipe as they will turn to mash far too soon and ruin the dish.
Chop your vegetables ahead of time. If you plan to leave your slow cooker on while running errands or not at home then make it easier by chopping and weighing up everything the night before.
Butter beans are also known as lima beans
If you cannot get hold of cho cho/chayote/christophine another water soluble vegetable such as zucchini will work too
If using zucchini make sure to add to bowl and sprinkle 1tsp of pink salt over it. Leave it to extract its own juices for 10-15 minutes and rinse off. This is to eliminate the bitter taste that can sometimes occur with zucchini.
Zucchini is known as courgette in the UK
To deepen the flavour I recommend cooking for at least 6 hours that is the sweet spot for optimal thickness
Use low fat coconut milk if you want to scrimp down more on fat content, although a diluted version of coconut milk may result in a loss in flavour.
Don't forget to discard the bay leaves, scotch bonnet (if using) and thyme stems prior to serving.