Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition.

Every Saturday, Yemi writes for the Stray Ferret about her love of the area’s food and shares cooking tips. Please do get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell, or even share a recipe.

I just got back from a work trip, which meant I had hotel-style full English, including the obligatory baked beans. I have to say, the only times I eat baked beans are as part of full English. I much prefer well cooked and seasoned smoky beans, and the best way to enjoy them is to make them myself.

Beans are one of the most versatile, nutritious and comforting ingredients you can keep in your kitchen, yet they remain one of the most underused.

Growing up in Nigeria, beans were never boring. They were hearty, sustaining, and woven into many meals that carried us from breakfast to supper. One of my favourites was beans with maize. The marriage of beans and sweetcorn is one of those simple but magical combinations that fills you up, warms you through and never fails to satisfy.

Spice up your beans

The dish begins with black-eyed beans or brown beans (which I prefer), cooked slowly with a blend of onions, ginger, garlic, peppers, chilli, a little tomato paste and good-quality stock until tender and just starting to break down. The mixture becomes rich and deeply flavoured, especially once you season it with curry powder, cumin, turmeric and a pinch of asafoetida. The ginger and asafoetida both help with digestion while the other spices bring warmth, fragrance and their own health benefits. The addition of Asian spices are my own take on what was previously a simple recipe.

Just before the beans are finished, sweetcorn is stirred through so it has time to soak up the flavours without losing its juicy pop. The result is a dish that is earthy from the beans, sweet from the corn, and beautifully balanced by the spices. In Nigeria, we would traditionally cook this in red palm oil, which gives a distinctive flavour and colour. Here, a good-quality olive or rapeseed oil will work well. For an extra hit of umami, I sometimes add a few drops of fish sauce, a nod to the crayfish powder used back home.

You can enjoy it simply as it is or make it feel indulgent with a fried pepper sauce on the side. This is made by cooking sliced onions in oil with a pepper blend, seasoned with thyme and curry powder, and simmered down with stock until thick and glossy. A spoonful over your beans takes the dish to another level, but honestly, it hardly needs it.

Eat better this autumn

For families looking to eat better this autumn, this beans and sweetcorn combination is a revelation. It is inexpensive, flexible and endlessly adaptable. Once you know the base method, you can start playing. Swap sweetcorn for cubed potatoes, sweet potatoes or parsnips, stir through leafy greens at the end, or serve with rice or flatbread to make it go further. The beauty of beans is that they hold hands with almost anything you put next to them.

And if you are thinking this sounds like too much effort for a weeknight, here is the surprise. Many bean dishes cook faster than waiting for a takeaway delivery. With a pressure cooker or even tinned beans, you can have something hearty on the table in less than half an hour. If you want to make life even easier, cook a big batch and keep portions in the freezer for days when energy is low but you still want to eat well.

Nigerian-style beans with sweetcorn

Serves 4 | Ready in 40 minutes (or less with tinned beans)

Forget baked beans from a tin. This comforting pot of beans with sweetcorn is hearty, spiced and full of flavour. It's the kind of dish that warms you on a cold night, keeps you full for hours, and makes you wonder why you ever settled for beans on toast.

Ingredients

· 250g dried black-eyed beans or brown beans (or 2 tins, drained)

· 150g sweetcorn (fresh, frozen or tinned)

· 1 onion, chopped

· 2 garlic cloves, chopped

· 2cm piece of ginger, grated

· 1 red pepper, chopped

· 1-2 chillies, chopped (to taste)

· for smokiness – option to add Cameroon pepper, ancho, chipotle and smoked paprika

· 1 tbsp tomato paste

· 1 tsp curry powder

· ½ tsp cumin

· ½ tsp turmeric

· pinch of asafoetida (optional)

· 3 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil (or red palm oil if you have it)

· 500ml vegetable or chicken stock

· a few drops of fish sauce (optional, for extra umami)

· salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. If using dried beans, soak overnight then cook until tender and just starting to break down. Alternatively, first cook the beans in a pressure cooker for 25 minutes. If using tinned beans, skip straight to step 2.

2. Heat oil in a pot and sauté the onion, garlic and ginger until soft. Add the pepper, chilli and tomato paste, then stir in the curry powder, cumin, turmeric and asafoetida. Cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant.

3. Add the beans and stock. Simmer gently until the beans are tender and the liquid has reduced to a thick sauce.

4. Stir in the sweetcorn and cook for 5 minutes so it absorbs the flavours. Add a few drops of fish sauce if using, then taste and adjust seasoning.

5. Serve hot as it is, or with rice, flatbread or a spoonful of fried pepper sauce if you want to make it extra special.

Tip: For a pepper sauce, fry sliced onions in oil, add blended peppers and season with thyme, curry powder and stock. Cook until thick and glossy, then spoon over your beans.

Adjust liquid as needed, so for more tender beans, add more water if beans aren’t soft enough. Different varieties of beans require different amounts of water and cooking time – black-eye beans need the most amount of water and time to soften.

Time-saver swap: Use tinned beans and frozen sweetcorn to have this dish ready in under 30 minutes.