azuki beans with kabocha squash
This recipe is a must, if you haven't made it already. It was perfect for winter, so I hope you ate it a bunch. But it's still good to eat on colder days... Or just once a week for real, deep nourishment.
I'm happy because I just made this dish with kidney beans instead of azuki and it was so good! Enjoy!
SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
4-6 6-inch pieces of kombu
1 cup dried azuki beans
2 cups kabocha squash, cut into large chunks (peel only if the squash is not organic)
1 teaspoon shoyu
chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, for garnish
STEPS
Combine the kombu and beans in a bowl and cover with water by an inch or two.
Soak overnight.
The next day, drain the kombu and beans and discard the soaking water.
Slice the kombu into 1" x 1" squares, and place them in a heavy pot with a heavy lid, preferably enameled cast iron.
Add the beans and enough fresh water to just cover the beans.
Bring to a boil.
As the beans boil, strain off any foam that rises to the top.
Let the beans boil, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, as this allows gases to release.
Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low (or place on a flame detector if you have one), and simmer for about 40 minutes.
Check the beans every 10 minutes, adding water to the pot when the water level appears to dip below the bean level.
After 40 minutes, arrange the squash on top of the beans and add more water to keep the beans covered.
Cook for another 20 minutes, or until the beans are soft and tender.
Add the shoyu to the beans, and cook for 10 more minutes.
Serve garnished with the cilantro or parsley.
Variations:
You can use any kind of winter squash (buttercup, butternut, Hokkaido pumpkin, delicata, and so on), or even carrots, in place of the kabocha squash in this dish.
You can also make a soup from azuki beans and sweet vegetables. Follow the same directions, but use more water and a variety of sweet vegetables (such as onions, carrots, squash, and corn). Season with shoyu, garnish with scallions. This is also deeply nourishing and revitalizing.
74 comments
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Okay, everyone. All your comments on this recipe made this dish sound irrestibly delicious. I put myself up to the challenge and made this dish. I followed the recipe step by step, and I wasn't very pleased with the taste. In fact, I didn't like this dish at all. I don't like wasting food, so I ended up eating this dish for lunch and dinner for 3 days. The kombu with the adzuki beans wasn't to my liking. Maybe it's an aquired taste to eat kombu with adzuki beans? I'm not sure. However, I do know, that I will not be making this dish again. -
I tried this yesterday on my pressure cooker and it got too soft, but made such a yummy bean soup!
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Personally for that recipe I don't think I would like kombu or kabocha squash, and I'm really not a big fan of beans...
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Love'd the picture of this in the book but since it had so few ingredients, I didn't think I'd like it. I served it with 100% buckwheat noodles, added a bit more tamari and it was fab! Thanks Alicia!
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One of my favorite recipes in the book. Here's a pic: http://whyiconsumeart.blogspot.com/2010/03/adzuki-beans-kabocha-with-fried-rice.html
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I made this for the first time, but added a few goodies. I couldn't get my hands on kobacha squash, so I used pumpkin :) It was really flavorful. I probably should have tried it as is, but I'm never inclined to follow a recipe exactly.
http://www.veganpiggy.com/2010/10/vegan-pumpkin-and-azuki-beans.html
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I made this for the first time, but added a few goodies. I couldn't get my hands on kobacha squash, so I used pumpkin :) It was really flavorful. I probably should have tried it as is, but I'm never inclined to follow a recipe exactly.
http://www.veganpiggy.com/2010/10/vegan-pumpkin-and-azuki-beans.html
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I just tried azuki beans recently and I really like them. They are a very good variety of bean.
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This dish is amazing. I especially love to make it as a soup with carrots and onions in addition to the squash. I typically use the butternut squash alternative since I've been unable to find kobacha squash. I also think I want to tinker with this dish by adding greens as well.
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Alicia did an interview for my site, My Skin Affair, and shared her favorite skin care products, makeup, favorite spa (We Care in Desert Hot Springs, which has now been reviewed on My Skin Affair) and she also talks about her eco-friendly line of makeup brushes and The Kind Diet. Check out her interview. It's all on My Skin Affair. www.myskinaffair.com Enjoy! I'd love to hear your thoughts.Peace.
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I was looking forward to this dish as my tummy has not been well and thought it would help. I followed the recipe verbatim and must say was dissappointed. It tASTED like flavorless sweet mushy beans. Not only was it bland but it gave me terrible gas(pardon the honesty) This is despite the soaking and kombu and removing of foam. I really loved the Kabocha but will be trying the other version of this stew in the book(non superhero), next time.
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I bought the squash and it was really hard and tough to cut. Did I not allow it to ripen fully?
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I soaked my beans and kombu last night, and just went into the kitchen to cook this recipe. Lucky I read the comments, because I soaked 6 pieces of kombu instead of 1! (I've lent my book to someone, hence why I'm grabbing the recipe from here).
My question now is, what on earth do I do with this extra soaked kombu? I have just put it in an airtight container with water in the fridge, does anyone know if it's ok to store like that, and how long it keeps, and what the devil I do with it all??? -
Made this on Monday night... had it for dinner that night and lunch yesterday and today. It's amazing! -
I can't find adzuki beans? I can find aduki beans and azuki beans but not adzuki beans - what kind of a mean vegan joke is that?! ;)
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I started to make this recipe from Alicia's book I had it all planed out the beans were soaking with the Kombu and all was good. In the morning I got a call from a friend and she wanted to come for dinner with some people and hang out! I thought OH NO I really wanted to make this for dinner and lunch tomorrow and now I have to serve 6 adults and only have enough beans ready to go for 4 servings with no leftovers!! So I ended up throwing all of the veggies and herbs in my fridge into this 2 butter nut squashes, a leftover leek, an onion, 5 carrots, shitaki mushrooms, 4 cloves of garlic, celery, corn, veggie stock, water, fresh thyme, basil, paprika, I just went crazy and it turned out really GREAT! love the adzuki beans! and i have leftovers for 3 days worth of lunch for two people exciting! I could NEVER have done this with a meal planned around a meat. It was so easy to just add to this recipe and make something tasty! Thanks Alicia for such a wonderful book! -
The amount of kombu called for here must be a typo. Alicia's book calls for one 4" - 6" piece of kombu. I make this recipe all the time and love it! I always add a little black pepper and green onions. Yum!
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This was AMAZING......I had never tried azuki beans or kabocha squash before and I was worried after reading some of the responses that it may not be good but I absolutely loved this and will eat both the beans and squash again in the future!
Thank you for sharing, I love trying new things and its even better when I end up loving them
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Sounds like a very nutritious food with two vegetable that are very important for our health. I am going to try it out because must be good. Thanks for the recipe.
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I agree with Dennis. Too much Kombu. I re-read that recipe ingredient line probably 5 times to make sure I was reading it right. On a side note about Kombu..I have been using like one strip of Kombu in my bath water. Adds minerals and aids in detox. -
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WAAAAAAAY too much Kombu in this.As macrobiotics has progressed it has been determined that too many salts have been consumed causing a Yang or contracting feeling in the body. The macrobiotic approach considers this extreme and unbalanced and sometimes resulting in a person reaching for the exact opposite extreme or Yin energy (opposite of Yang or contracting energy is Yin or expanding energy). An example of extreme Yin foods is sugar or coffee (stimulants that make you more spacey). One goal of macrobiotics is to keep the body in balance, allowing for optimum health and avoiding illness, and this is not possible if you are always going to the extremes. Therefore it is suggested to lower your intake of salts, in this case Kombu. Be sure to wipe the Kombu off with a clean damp cloth, this get's rid of the excess salts you can usually clearly see on the Kombu. I would try with half this amount of Kombu. The same should be considered if you are using any macrobiotic cookbooks that are more than 5 years old.
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Way to go Matt! One day at a time, so they say.
This dish looks delicious Alicia, and I will be sure to try making it.
I have two unrelated questions and don't know where else to post but here:
1. I use my Vita-mix to make wonderful wheat flour from whole wheat kernels...does this mean I can make all purpose white flour by blending up white rice? If my rice flour isn't the equivelant of white flour, can it still be used in recipes calling for white flour...like breads? Or will my bread turn out a complete flop if I use rice flour?
Okay, that was more than one question.
2. The other thing I wanted to comment on was that I haven't received the usual email alerts from The Kind Life in a couple of weeks and wondering if my email was accidentally merged from your list? I was thinking you were just busy working and none were sent out until I checked website now and see lots of posts I missed!
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just letting new yorker know that on april 1st,there is an event at the gotham comedy club that is raising money for woodstock farm sanctuary!it is called, comedy for karma!!it should be cool...laughs while supporting the sanctuary
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