Zoe Adjonyoh’s Cheap Thrill Is a Well-Spiced Pot of Rice and Beans

Zoe Adjonyoh is a chef and author of Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen. When the coronavirus hit London, she started ZK Community Kitchen, a commissary that puts out hundreds of meals a week for communities that are at risk of hunger. We asked Adjonyoh to tell us about her favorite Cheap Thrill—the fast, affordable, and delicious meal she puts together when she’s too busy or tired to cook anything else. It turned out to be the same meal she’d just cooked a huge batch of in the commissary.

The other day I got a ton of coconut milk and kilos of onions donated to the kitchen. I fried tons and tons of onions that day. But let’s say at home you have two onions. Slice them and sweat them in a big skillet with a good amount of coconut oil. Almost caramelize them.

Now add some spices. I usually reach for Indian-inspired spices, like coriander and garam masala. I had some Madras curry powder, so I added that and a little bit of chile pepper. I also added some fresh chilies because they were about to go bad.

Then I added a tin of pinto beans, a couple vegetable bouillon cubes, and a tin of coconut milk. I let that all simmer together for a few minutes while I made some basmati rice. When the rice was ready, I stirred the beans into it. And it was fantastic. Delicious. A lockdown larder version of rajma.

If you wanted to add a green thing to it, you could add spinach maybe, or kale. Stir it into the beans right at the end, just to wilt it. Or if you have frozen spinach, that works really well, too.

This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.

Originally Appeared on Epicurious