Tender brown beans, salted beef and celery come together in a savoury stew with plenty of sauce to spoon over white rice. Soaking and briefly blanching the salted beef first keeps its flavour full while bringing the saltiness into better balance.
Brown beans with rice is a familiar Surinamese dish, but the exact preparation varies from kitchen to kitchen and household to household. In this version, salted beef, onion, tomato, garlic and celery give the beans a savoury, aromatic base. The beans stay whole and tender, while their cooking liquid becomes a thin, flavourful sauce that mingles with the rice. The dish is hearty without the sauce needing to be heavy or thick.
Dried brown beans take a little planning ahead: soak them overnight so they cook more evenly and need less time on the stove. Discard the soaking water and use fresh water to cook them. The exact cooking time depends on how old the beans are and how long they have been soaked. Start checking after about an hour: they should be tender but not falling apart. Stir gently and add hot water if needed when the beans are no longer well covered.
Salted beef can be quite salty, and the salt level varies from one product to another. Rinse it first, soak it in fresh water and then blanch it briefly. This removes some of the salt before the meat goes in with the beans. Taste the stew towards the end and add salt only if needed. If the meat is still very salty after soaking, change the soaking water or blanch it again. Smoked chicken is a practical substitute: it does not need soaking or blanching, but gives the stew a different, smoky flavour.
First, gently fry the onion and tomato so they release their flavour into the spices. Then add the beans and meat and let them simmer gently. Celery brings a fresh, green note that balances the rich flavour of the salted beef. Use Surinamese celery if you can find it; ordinary leaf celery works too, though its flavour is a little milder. To make a plant-based version, leave out the salted beef and stew the beans with the same aromatic base. Season carefully with salt at the end.
Serve the beans with freshly cooked white rice and spoon some of the cooking liquid onto each plate too. A fresh cucumber or cabbage salad makes a nice contrast, but is not essential. Once cooled, store leftovers covered in the fridge and eat them within two days. Reheat the beans and rice separately until piping hot; add a splash of water to the beans if the sauce has thickened during storage.
Rinse the brown beans and soak them for 8–12 hours in plenty of cold water. Drain and rinse again.
Rinse the salted beef, cut it into bite-sized pieces and soak it in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes. Drain. Put the meat in a saucepan, cover with fresh water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Drain; taste a piece if you like and blanch again if it is very salty.
Heat the oil in a large stew pot over medium heat. Fry the onion for 4 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and tomato and fry for 3 minutes, until the tomato starts to soften. Stir in the cumin and black pepper.
Add the beans, salted beef and leaf celery. Pour in fresh water until everything is covered by about 3 cm. Bring to the boil, turn the heat to low and simmer gently with the lid partly on for 60–90 minutes. Stir gently from time to time and add hot water if needed. The beans are ready when tender but still holding their shape.
Rinse the rice until the water is mostly clear. Cook until tender and fluffy according to the package instructions.
Taste the bean stew and add salt only if needed. Serve with the white rice and spoon plenty of cooking liquid over the beans. Finish with the reserved celery leaves.
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