Really traditional warming Cape comfort food.  All you need is some brown wholewheat bread and fresh farm butter to make a complete meal.  I offer both a vegetarian and a meat version here.

"Sugar" Beans

You’ll need:

Vegetarian Version
375g dried sugar beans, water for soaking, 1.5 litres extra water, 3 Tbs sunflower oil, 3 large onions – peeled & chopped, 2 large leeks, plus a bit of the green tops – peeled & chopped, 3 carrots – peeled & thickly sliced, 3 turnips – peeled & thickly sliced, 200ml ripe tomatoes – skinned, chopped drained, sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, ½ tsp ground mace, knife point of ground cloves, knife point of cayenne pepper, knife point of grated nutmeg, knife point of ground allspice, grated rind of 1 lemon – no pith, chopped parsley for garnish, 1 small chili – seeded & finely chopped.

Meat version
1kg beef shin or marrow bones – thinly sliced, 125g  pork fat or bacon with rind – chopped

Method: The day before.  Pick over the beans to eliminate any bad ones and soak overnight in cold water.  Drain and discard the water. In a heavy bottomed pot, gently heat the oil and when hot fry the onions, leeks and carrots until soft and lightly browned.  Be careful not to burn any of the vegetables.  Remove from the oil and set on kitchen paper to drain. If using meat in the soup, gently fry in the oil [adding more if necessary] until lightly browned.  Remove and set on kitchen paper to drain. Place the beans in the pot, add the onion mixture, the tomatoes [and meat if being used] and pour over the water.  Season lightly with salt, freshly milled black pepper, cloves, cayenne pepper, nutmeg and allspice.  Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 90 minutes or up to a further 30 minutes until the beans are soft.  Remove any scum or foam from the top during the simmering. Remove the beef or marrow bones, if using, and cut the meat and the marrow up into small pieces.  Throw away the bones.  Using a potato masher, mash the vegetables.  Or remove some of the vegetables to give some texture to the soup and blitz the remaining soup in a food processor.  Add back the whole vegetables. Taste the soup for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if required.  Add the lemon rind, parsley and chili and return to the heat to heat through thoroughly.  Check for final seasoning and serve in hot bowls with wholewheat bread and butter.

Serves 6 people