Seim (see Hyacinth Bean if you don’t know what they are) was yet another dish my mom would cook occasionally, which she couldn’t even force us to eat as kids. She would add coconut milk, left over pieces of stewed meats and even pieces of salted cod to try and get us to eat it… no luck! As a grown man I still don’t have much of an appetite for it and it’s mainly due to the distinctive flavor it possesses. Though it’s cooked in the same manner as bodi, something which I really like, I just can’t fully appreciate that unique sort of flavor seim has. A flavor which is very difficult to describe… can a vegetable/bean be ‘gamey’?
This curry seim recipe is a wonderful vegetarian dish but you can also add pieces of meats as mentioned above, if you’d like to enhance the overall flavor.
You’ll Need…
1 pound seim (cleaned and trimmed)
1 tablespoon madras curry powder (Caribbean blend)
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup water
1/2 small onion
3 chilies (I had some bird pepper in the fridge)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon veg oil
dash black pepper
2 medium potatoes cubed (I like Yukon gold’s creaminess)
*3 tablespoons water for cooking the curry.
First up, we need to wash, clean and trim the seim (see video at the bottom of the post). Using a sharp pairing knife, strip the edges off the seim, then cut into 2 pieces. The edges will not cook down and will be stringy and tough, so we must remove them. Depending on the size of your seim, cut into 2 or 4 pieces and remember to keep the peas (seeds) as well. Prepare the potato, onion, garlic and pepper so we’re good to go when we get started.
In a fairly deep saucepan, heat the vegetable oil on medium heat, then toss in the madras curry powder, stir and allow to cook for a couple minutes. Then add the sliced onion, garlic and hot pepper so they release their oils and flavor the dish. Give that another minute, then add 3 tablespoons of water and allow to cook for about 3-5 minutes on a low heat. After which you can turn up the heat and allow the curry mixture to cook down completely.(you can also make a slurry with the curry powder, garlic, onion, pepper and water and add to the heated oil as well)
When the liquid dries down and the curry paste we just made starts to get darker and stick to the bottom of the pan, add the trimmed seim, potato chunks, salt, black pepper and give it a good stir.
Next up is to add the coconut milk and water. Bring that up to a boil by raising the heat. Now reduce that to a very gentle simmer, cover the pot and allow to cook for about 30 minutes.
Remember to stir occasionally while it cooks. After 30 minutes the seim should be tender and the potato should start to melt away to form a thick sort of gravy. If there’s a lot of liquid left in the pan, raise the heat so that can burn-off. I recall my mom making this very dry (no gravy), but I do like some gravy to eat with my roti or rice.
I just so happened to have some buss up shut roti in he freezer which I reheated, along with some mango kuchela to round off my meal. This recipe should be enough for four people as a side dish in case you’re wondering.
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Will be trying this for the first time today! Thanks for the inspiration.
Hi Chris,
Hi Chris,
Researching the Latin name of the plant, it is easy to see why the vegetable has a distinctive taste (the natural chemicals in the plant). From experience, even strong spices can’t disguise these strong tastes.
In Europe we have the broad bean. It looks similar to the bean in your pictures. When mature the seeds are harvested like any other pulse.
However, when immature the pods can be harvested and used whole as a vegetable.
Maybe, in this form the Broadbean could be substituted in your recipe for a milder flavour.
It looks great. I will surely try it. I have tried to prepare sim before, but it was a big failure. Now I have your recipe to try it again. Thank you so much, Chris. Have a great day.
Always enjoy your videos. Thanks. I have seim on my fence bearing now. So I will show them some appreciation in some curry. They will be happy lol.
Hey Chris I grew up with this dish,I still cook it as often as I can! Thanks for sharing! !
This recipe brings back memories of my mom. She used to make a real delicious seim and roti.
I always enjoy your recipes Chris, these are ALL the food I love to cook for my family, and some of the same recipes my mother and Grandmother taught me.Keep sending them and I will continue to get applause from Husband and grandchildren. Thanks.
Always made this with just tomatoes and seasoning, . Can’t wait to try it with potatoes. Thanks Chris.
Chris this curry seim wiith potato looks really good .It can also work for curry bodi and potato. Thank You.
Not usually one of my favourites but it sure looks great enough to give it another try
i love it !
Hey Chris….is it possible for you to post some finger foods for us? Have a great day.
Chris,
Love this one to the maxx.
great video,truly helpful. i used it to cook my sunday meal. i really was in trouble as to how to cook this seim.thanks a million