Baked bean salad: the ten-minute South African braai side, made in Australia

Every South African braai has a bowl of it. Beans out of a tin, chopped onion, tomato and cucumber, a handful of coriander and enough green chilli to make the Australians at the table reach for their drinks. This baked bean salad takes ten minutes, needs no cooking, and costs less than the ice you put in the esky.

The only question for an expat is which tin. Koo from the South African shop, or SPC or Heinz from the supermarket down the road. The short answer is that either works. The longer answer is below, along with our working recipe, the swaps that hold up in an Australian kitchen and the three ways this salad goes wrong.

What a baked bean salad is, and why it is at every braai

It is a cold salad built on a tin of baked beans in tomato sauce. The sauce in the tin is the dressing. Everything else is chopped small and stirred through: onion, tomato, cucumber, fresh green chilli, coriander, a spoon of something sweet and a shake of chilli powder. Then it goes in the fridge for an hour and comes out better than it went in.

By most accounts it comes out of South Africa’s Indian kitchens, where it sits with the sambals next to a curry or a roast. From there it spread to every braai table in the country, because it is cheap and quick. It cuts the fat on a plate of chops and wors, it brings some heat, and it takes about as much effort as opening the tin.

If you grew up calling it “boontjieslaai” or just “the beans”, you already know the taste. If you married into it, this is the version to make.

The tin: Koo, SPC or Heinz

South Africans are loyal to Koo Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce, and you can get the 410 g tin in Australia. South African grocers stock it, in the shop and by post; our state by state directory of South African shops in Australia lists them. Buy a few tins while you are there, because one salad turns into a habit.

If the nearest South African shop is two suburbs and a toll road away, use what Coles or Woolworths has. SPC Baked Beans Rich Tomato comes in a 425 g tin and is made in Australia. It is navy beans in a rich tomato sauce, which is exactly what the salad needs. Heinz Beanz is the other shelf regular and works the same way.

Both taste a little different from Koo, since every brand has its own sauce. Once the onion, chilli and coriander are in, nobody at the table will pick it.

Whatever the tin, do not drain it. The sauce is the point.

The baked bean salad recipe

This makes enough for four as a side, or six if there are other salads on the table. Ten minutes of chopping, no cooking, an hour in the fridge. The quantities are our own working version of the recipe that does the rounds in South African Facebook groups. Treat the chilli as a starting point, not a rule, and use the print button on the card for a clean copy for the kitchen.

Baked bean salad

The cold bean salad at every South African braai. One tin of baked beans in tomato sauce, chopped onion, tomato, cucumber, green chilli and coriander, a spoon of honey and an hour in the fridge. No cooking.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Servings: 4 as a side

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 tin baked beans in tomato sauce, about 410 g Koo from a South African shop, or SPC or Heinz from the supermarket. Do not drain
• ½ red onion, finely chopped brown onion works too
• 1 ripe tomato, seeds removed, finely diced
• ½ Lebanese cucumber, seeds scraped out, diced about ¼ of a long continental cucumber
• 2 to 3 long green chillies, thinly sliced one for mild, three for a proper braai; bird’s eye if you want it hotter
• ⅓ cup fresh coriander, chopped flat-leaf parsley for the coriander haters
• 1 tbsp honey or sweet chilli sauce or a spoon of Mrs Balls chutney
• ½ lemon, juiced
• ½ tsp chilli powder optional; taste after chilling before you add it
• salt and black pepper to taste

Method

 

1. Chop the onion, tomato, cucumber and chillies small, about the size of a bean, so every spoonful gets a bit of everything.
2. Tip the whole tin of beans, sauce and all, into a mixing bowl.
3. Add the onion, tomato, cucumber, chilli and coriander.
4. Stir the honey and lemon juice together in a cup until the honey loosens, then pour it over the bowl.
5. Fold everything together gently with a large spoon so the beans stay whole. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper.
6. Cover and chill for at least an hour, two if you can. Taste, and only now decide whether it needs the chilli powder or more lemon.
7. Serve cold, straight from the fridge, with a spoon in the bowl.

Notes

Quantities are our working version and the chilli is a starting point, not a rule. Chill for at least an hour before serving; two is better. Keeps about three days in the fridge, though the cucumber goes soft after the first, so add it late if you are making the salad ahead.

It should taste sweet from the beans first, then sharp from the onion and lemon, with the chilli arriving last. If it tastes flat, it needs salt or lemon, not more sugar. If it tastes like beans on toast, it needs more onion and chilli.

Swaps and variations

The base recipe is forgiving, which is why every family has its own version. These are the ones we would stand behind.

• Chutney instead of honey. A spoon of Mrs Balls does the sweet job and adds fruit and a little heat. If you have no Mrs Balls, the Mrs Balls chutney substitute guide covers the Australian jars that come close.
• The Durban version. Skip the honey, add the juice of a whole lemon and double the coriander. Sharper, greener, and better next to a curry than next to chops.
• Chopped boiled egg. Two eggs, chopped roughly, folded in at the end. It turns a side into something you could eat for lunch.
• A spoon of chakalaka. Stir a few spoons of chakalaka relish through the beans before the fresh vegetables go in. You get the spice and the carrot without any extra work.
• Corn and capsicum. Half a cup of corn kernels and a finely diced red capsicum, for colour and crunch. It drifts towards Mexico, but nobody complains.
• Parsley for the coriander haters. There is one at every braai. Flat-leaf parsley keeps the green and drops the soap.

The creamy version, with mayonnaise stirred through, exists and has its fans. It is a different salad, closer to the curried bean salad in our braai side dishes post, and it does not keep as well in the heat. On a Queensland afternoon, stick with the tomato sauce version.

Where it goes wrong

Three mistakes account for nearly every watery, bland or blistering bowl.

The first is the cucumber. Cut it with the seeds in and it weeps into the sauce within an hour, and the salad turns soupy. Halve it, scrape the seeds out with a teaspoon, then dice it. If you are making the salad the night before, leave the cucumber out and add it in the morning.

The second is chilli maths. The recipe has fresh green chilli and chilli powder. The long green chillies in an Australian supermarket are on the mild side, so it is tempting to add more of both. Add the fresh chilli, taste after the salad has chilled, and only then think about the powder, because heat grows in the fridge.

The third is not chilling it long enough, because straight out of the bowl it tastes like beans with bits in. An hour in the fridge is the minimum, and two is better. Made in the morning for an afternoon braai is the sweet spot. It keeps for about three days, though the cucumber goes soft after the first.

Serving it at a braai

It belongs next to chops, chicken and a coil of wors. It is at its best on a braaibroodjie plate, where the beans soak into the toasted bread. If you are planning the whole table, the eight braai side dishes from an Australian supermarket will fill the rest of the gaps. If the braai is on 24 September, our National Braai Day plan for Australia has the timing worked out.

It also travels well, which matters here. A lot of Australian braais happen at a park, a beach or a mate’s place. A cold salad in a warm car is a food safety problem by the time you arrive. Put the bowl in an ice box with the drinks.

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One more serving note for the Australians at the table. Put the salad out without a warning label. Watch who reaches for it twice.

Frequently asked questions

Open a tin this weekend

The whole appeal of a baked bean salad is that it was never hard. One tin, five things from the crisper, a spoon of honey and an hour in the fridge. The bowl on the table tastes like every braai you grew up at.

Make it for the next one, and if the Australians ask what it is, tell them it is a braai thing. Our braai vs bbq post handles the rest of that conversation.

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