Aduki bean stew or cleaning out my pantry

[supernova]

I posted this in the lounge last night, but I wanted to share here too.

Sunday night suppers in winter always seem to mean hearty stews and soups for me. Last night was a great addition to that. I'm a carnivore, but always with my shopping I include beans for a meal or two during the week. Last night was a kind of clear out the pantry night.

I had a can of aduki beans in the pantry. Here's what I did with them.

In a saucepan:

heated 1 tblsp butter (Would have used olive oil, but I'm really low on that right now)
Slice one large white onion
Spices:
Turmeric
sage
chicken buillion (vegitarian or vegan buillion would work too)

Roast one acorn squash, halved and cleaned, in the oven for about 30 minutes. You're after some roasting "burns" on the acorn for added flavor.


I sweated the onions down in the butter in the sauscepan. I added in the turmeric, sage and bullion. No water yet. The onions give off a lot of liquid. When the acorn is done I scooped out the flesh and added it. If you want added texture for the stew, you could just "char" it and and then cube it up, too. I added the canned beans last, since they are already cooked and really only need reheating.

This is a really good stew, one part comforting and one part odd to me. I'd never had aduki beans before, but the lady who hosts http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/273/index.jsp">You Are What You Eat on BBC America loves them and recommends them just about every episode. So I had to try them. They taste like raw black eyed peas to me. I like that taste, it's just differnet from what I'm used to. Maybe they are supposed to taste that way, and maybe I needed to cook them longer, despite being canned. Dunno. But it did add a little umph to the dish.

edit: The only thing that I think would make that better would be crusty bread or cornbread for me, since I have to keep my wheat ingestion on the low side.



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