Baked beans with crispy fried onions

Boiling beans

I washed the beans under cold running water and soaked them in cold water for at least 12 hours or overnight. Once sufficiently soaked, I rinsed the beans and put them in a large pot of fresh water. I brought the beans to a boil over medium heat. When it started to foam I scooped it up and after about 10 minutes drained the water and added hot water. I let it simmer for 10 minutes and drained it again and added enough boiling water to cover it and let it simmer until it was soft and easy to mash with your finger. This can take between 1 and 2 hours, depending on the type of beans and how soggy they were initially. I drained the boiled beans, but saved a cup of the boiling water to use in case they needed further thinning.

To cook faster use the pressure cooker. After skimming and the first water change, close the lid and boil for about 30 minutes. This is usually enough, but if the beans are uncooked they should be left to simmer until they are slightly squashed between your fingers.

I put the beans in a large bowl along with the garlic which I mashed a little. I used an upright blender, but you can use any kind of bowl blender to crush the beans. With the vertical one you can do the operation directly in the bowl where the beans are. I blended until I had a fine paste.

Crispy golden fried onions

While the beans are boiling we can get on with the fried onions. If you've only had baked beans with onions in tomato sauce, you must try this golden, thin and crispy fried onion recipe.

I peeled 3-4 onions and cut them into thin slices and then scallions. Don't cut it very small because it can burn very quickly when frying. I heated the oil in a deep frying pan over medium heat. I added the sliced onion to the pan stirring well to coat it with oil. I let it fry over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender and light golden in color. This process can take about 10-15 minutes, until it gets crispy. Care must be taken not to burn it because the taste becomes bitter. After the onions had fried and turned golden, I removed them from the pan onto a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. You can sprinkle a pinch of salt over the still hot fried onions to enhance the flavour.

The oil from the fried onions is put over the beans

The oil in which the onion was fried, after it had cooled a little, I added it to the bean mixture. I stirred and added another 1-2 tablespoons, but do not top up unless needed, everyone does as they like. The beans absorb the oil well and won't feel greasy. If you want to thin it out, you can add a few tablespoons or more of the water you kept from cooking. If a spicier taste is desired, you can add more minced garlic or a little pepper. It depends very much on the type of bean because the cooking time and the consistency of the beans will depend on the type of bean. But both consistency and taste can be adjusted.

The fried onions get very moist very quickly if placed on top of the beans, so I put the beans in a bowl and the fried onions in a separate bowl.

Baked beans go very well with bread and pickles. Place a layer of beans on a slice of bread and top with fried onions. A real treat!

Of course you can skip the step of boiling beans by using canned beans, which are ready boiled. And suddenly it saves a lot of time. That way you can make a baked bean very quickly when you feel like it.