Black Bean Benedict

Disclaimer: In December 2019, I was commissioned to develop a variety of recipes for Dairy Australia. This is one of them, featuring the use of butter. Styling and photography by me. Both the recipe and the photo is now property of Dairy Australia, however I was given permission to publish them on my website. © Dairy Australia. All rights reserved.

If I want to earn brownie points at home, I only need to say I’m making eggs benedict for breakfast. My husband’s eyes will light up like a child on Christmas morning! Poaching eggs is still a bit of a hit and miss, but when you get a good one, it’s so satisfying.

The idea for this particular fusion recipe came from an experience we had years ago at a cafe in Chicago. We ordered eggs benedict on arancini! It was probably one of the best things we’ve ever eaten. I’ve made those a few times now, and it’s always a hit. But the recipes I was commissioned to develop were supposed to be sort of Asian fusiony, so the arancini became a sushi rice patty and the ham became the black bean stew. I’m not gonna lie, it’s rich, but damn, it’s tasty!

Note! These are black fermented soy beans. Not the South American variety. Asian supermarkets should have them. If not, they’ll probably have black bean sauce, which will work just as well for this recipe.

Get organised!

This recipe consists of four elements that all need to be ready simultaneously, so time management is crucial here. I recommend the following order:

1. If you haven’t got leftover cooked sushi rice, cook the rice first, then refrigerate.
2. The next step would be making the black bean stew. When ready, set it aside and reheat it in the microwave just before plating up.
3. Next would be the Hollandaise sauce. Keep it warm for up to 2 hours, but no longer! If it gets thick, add a few drops of hot water and it will become smooth again.
4. Heat up a large pot of water to poach the eggs.
5. While the water is heating, fry the rice patties.
6. The final step is poaching the eggs, just before serving.

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Black Bean Benedict

Every Australian café has eggs benedict on the menu. No wonder, what is not to like about a velvety Hollandaise sauce over a soft poached egg? But have you had it on rice and a black bean stew? It could not get any more fusion than this. Bonus: another creative way of using up leftover sticky rice.

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Asian, Australian

Keyword: black beans, buttermilk, eggs, eggs benedict, hollandaise sauce

Servings: 4 serves

Ingredients

Black bean stew

• 1 lap cheong sausage
• ½ small onion finely diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 ½ teaspoons ginger grated
• 2 tablespoons fermented black soybeans
• ½ red capsicum diced
• ½ green capsicum diced
• 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon chilli paste
• 140 ml water
• 1 teaspoon corn flour

Hollandaise sauce

• 250 g unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 2 egg yolks
• pinch of white pepper
• pinch of salt
• lemon juice to taste

Other ingredients

• 300 g leftover cooked sushi rice
• 40 g baby spinach
• 4 large fresh eggs
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• coriander leaves to decorate

Instructions

Black bean stew

• Soak the fermented black beans in water for 1 hour. Drain and rinse.
• Chop the sausage into small cubes, then fry in a shallow pan until the oil releases. Add diced onion and sweat for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic, ginger, black beans and both capsicums before pouring in flavourings (vinegar, soy and sambal) and 130ml of the water. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the liquid has almost completely reduced and the capsicum is tender.
• Thicken the sauce with a slurry made from 10ml of cold water and corn flour.

Hollandaise sauce

• To make hollandaise sauce, melt butter over a hot water bath. Once melted, pour off the golden butter fat and discard the white milk proteins left behind. Cool slightly and keep the clarified butter at 40°C.
• Set aside 2 tablespoons of the clarified butter for the rice patties.
• In a medium bowl, combine yolks and vinegar and whisk over a low heat water bath to ribbon stage. Be careful not to scramble the eggs. Remove from the heat and gradually pour in the clarified butter, whisking continuously. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon. If the sauce is too thick, use a few drops of warm water to bring back to a pouring consistency. Keep warm.

Rice patties

• Form 4 rice patties with wet hands and fry them in the 2 tablespoons of clarified butter you set aside until crisp and lightly golden on both sides.

Poached eggs

• Bring a deep pot of water to the boil. Pour in white vinegar and reduce to a simmer. Carefully crack the eggs into the water and poach until the whites are fully cooked but the yolk is still runny.

Plate up

• To serve, place the rice patty on a plate, top with spinach leaves, followed by a layer of black bean stew. Top with a poached egg, then spoon over hollandaise sauce. Decorate with finely chopped coriander leaves.
• Tip: For this dish, a lot could be happening at the same time. Get organised by preparing the stew earlier and just re-heating it in the microwave before plating. Hollandaise sauce keeps for up to 2 hours at 40°C.