Bean and Kai Lan Stew

A continuation to making new dishes out of your Christmas Leftovers, here’s a warm and fulfilling dish that will definitely come in handy the next day after a whole night of celebration. The Bean and kai lan stew, better known as the Christmas Leftover Stew. This stew reminds me of the minestrone for its chunky goodness with beans and vegetables but with an Asian twist to it of course!

As you already know, minestrone soup is traditionally made of beans and whatever vegetables that are in season (or whatever you have in the fridge!). I love the flavour of the kai lan stalk and I’ve decided to fry them together with the onions and carrots. Save the dark green leaves of the kai lan for later, we will be using them as a delicious and crunchy garnish for this dish.

Kai lan (or gai lan) is also known as Chinese kale or Chinese broccoli with dark green leaves and thick stem. It is often thought of as more bitter and stronger flavoured than regular broccoli. Kai lan is very popular in Chinese cuisine and is often used in stir fries. Its thick stem, which has a lovely, soft texture and that absorbs a lot of flavour when cooked is highly-prized and can be bought on its own (without the leaves). The kai lan is very easily available in grocery stores or wet markets in Asia.

Cooking Instructions

So, first, separate your leafy green from its stem. I recommend peeling the stem of the kai lan to avoid any stringy fibrousness and chop them into cubes, along with the onions and carrots. These three ingredients will form the base flavour of our stew.

In a pot, heat some olive oil and fry all your chopped vegetables until they are softened. 

After a few minutes add in some chopped garlic and continue stirring until fragrant. Season your stew with salt and pepper. The one tip I have when making stews is to always taste and season as you go. In this stew, I’ve added some soy sauce, too for a delicious savouriness and umami. 

Next ingredient may blow your mind! It surely surprised my colleagues, and it is: a can of BAKED BEANS! Yes, good ol’ baked beans in tomato sauce! Funny thing, growing up, my brothers and I used to put baked beans in everything. We love having them with eggs, with hash browns, with corned beef or even slap them into our sandwiches! So, I’m more than happy to empty a can of baked beans and a canful of water into the pot. Now, leave this to boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.

While waiting for the stew to simmer, grab a wok to flash-fry the leafy parts of the kai lan. The key to flash frying is to set the wok at a very high temperature, with some oil and once the wok is very hot, fry your ingredients for a minimal amount of time. Flash frying locks in the juices and flavour in your food and that’s exactly what we want. So when you flash fry your vegetables, you can expect both crunch and juiciness with lots of flavour! YUM!

Once your wok is very hot, carefully add in your leafy kai lan followed simply with some soy sauce. Within a few seconds, you’ll be able to see the sides of your leafy greens charring, and that’s when you know they’re good to be taken off the heat.

Time to assemble! The stew would be having a lovely thick texture by now after that bit of simmering. Scoop some of the stew into your serving bowl and place slices of the leftover roast meat. Top this off with the crunchy, charred kai lan and garnish with fried shallots, drizzle with some chilli oil and half of a fresh calamansi lime. 

And there you have it, a delicious Christmas Leftover Stew all ready in just half an hour or so! This stew is sweet from the can of baked beans and caramelised vegetables, tangy from the freshly squeezed calamansi and spicy from the added chilli oil, so if you’re not a fan of spice, feel free to leave this one out. On top of that, the flash-fried kai lan adds so much texture and flavour to this entire dish that gives it that extra kick to your average stew.

I hope you enjoyed turning one of your Christmas leftovers into a whole new meal for you and your family. Check out the full recipe video on YouTube and don’t forget to tag me when you try out this recipe. 

Deliciously Yours, Mel!