Red Pepper Black Bean Dip

I made this for a quick dinner last week when I got home hungry and tired and all I wanted to do was sit on the sofa with some comfort food. I really fancied beans on toast but a quick hunt revealed no baked beans, so I decided to improvise and created this warm red pepper beany dip.

I cooked the beans briefly to help them soften up as I wanted to mash them with a potato masher to reduce the amount of washing up. I also added a spoonful of peanut butter, which I admit sounds a little odd, but in my mind I was making a sort of houmous and the peanut butter was the stand in for tahini. I added a roasted skinned red pepper from a jar and a few sun dried tomatoes for flavour. Then it was just mash mash mash and in 10-15 minutes dinner was ready.

The dip was surprisingly creamy and I really enjoyed eating it while it was still slightly warm. The peanut butter added a slight nuttiness that worked well with the beans without tasting odd. I chose to eat it with some florets of broccoli, carrot sticks and chili flavour plantain crisps, which are those banana chip looking discs in the picture. I had never had plantain crisps before but I spotted them at the shops and my curiosity got the better of me. They came in two flavours, plain and chili and I chose the chili and boy did they pack a punch, but they were perfect for dipping.

The leftover beany dip was great the following day spread onto a tortilla with some crisp lettuce, salad and grated cheese. (Sorry for the quality of the pictures but it was dark and I was hungry.

Red Pepper Black Bean Dip
Ingredients
1 can black eyed beans
1 roasted, skinned red pepper from a jar
1 tbsp sun dried tomato paste
½ tbsp smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp olive oil
150ml water
Assorted crudités for dipping

Method
Drain and rinse the beans and place into a sauce pan along with the water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes until the beans are soft.
Remove the beans from the heat. Add the red pepper, tomato paste, oil and peanut butter.
Mash everything together using a potato masher until relatively smooth, but a few lumps remain.
Spoon into a serving dish and serve with as assortment of vegetable sticks, crisps and bread for dipping.
Store any leftovers in the fridge.
Makes around 1 cup.