A Hearty Meal and a New Friend

About 3 weeks ago I decided to join a lunch club that was started by one of the Friends at Redland Quaker Meeting. This is a completely new experience for me but the idea appealed as it meant I would meet some new people and have a good meal once a week. Unfortunately I've not been able to attend any of the lunches to date but this week it was my turn to cook.
As the weather has been so chilly and unpredictable I thought about cooking something hearty such as Shepherds Beany Pie (Rose Elliot's recipe) which I made last week while cooking at the Ashram in Wales as it went down very well and it is certainly very hearty and warming. By Wednesday evening I realised that only one person was going to attend the meal and she mentioned that she was recovering from a virus so wasn't feeling too wonderful. Reconsidering my options I did a quick mental check. I knew I had about 1/4 of a pumpkin in the fridge, some butternut squash and a tin of aduki beans so made a complete U-turn and decided to cook an old favourite of mine:

Pumpkin and Aduki Mash with short grain brown rice.

This recipe was taught to me by an old friend, Andy Harrop, who had lived in Japan and studied the Macrobiotic approach to eating. What appealed to me is that the dish is very good for people recuperating from illness or anyone who is struggling with energy levels (to be honest that is me at the moment). According to the Macrobiotic principals the aduki bean's nourish the kidneys which are the source of our fundamental energy and the natural sweetness of the pumpkin and squash are very satisfying for the spleen and stomach energy (our fundamental ability to stand up comes from here - the Upright Energy).
Now the decision was made the cooking was easy as there is very little preparation. You can serve this with any type of rice but the Macrobiotics prefer to use short grain as it is thought to contain more fundamental energy (to be honest I just prefer the taste of it).
It was the first time I had spent any time with Hemmy so I had no idea what to expect but we had the most fascinating conversation over our aduki bean mash and she loved the meal.

 1 Softening the vegetables by sweating

Turn the heat down to a low setting and cover - leave to sweat for around ten minutes checking every 4 or 5 minutes to stir and ensure there is enough liquid to stop the contents catching.

2 Vegetables are softened but not mushy

3 The aduki mash prior to cooking through

The vegetables  breakdown and soften - keep an eye on the pan because just at the point when it is starting to cook through you need to add the drained aduki beans and mix well.



Ingredients (Serves 3/4)
1/4 of a large pumpkin and around the same amount of any kind of squash (use one or the other or both)
1 med onion
1-2 tblsns cooking oil (I use Grape Seed)
Around 250 mls of vegetable stock (I used some of the juice from the tin of bean to make mine with)
1 tin of aduki beans (drain and save the juice) or soak around 1/2 cup dried beans the night before and cook until al dente - strain and save the cooking liquid
1 teaspoon of dried mint or peppermint / 1 tablespoon fresh mint chopped
Soya Sauce - 1 tblspn
Miso past (optional) 1/2 to 1 tspn
Approx 1 cup of rice

Method
Peel and remove the seeds from the pumpkin and or squash. Cut into medium sized cubes. Peel and chop the onion roughly. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan to a moderate heat then gently fry the onions - you can let them brown a little but don't let them burn. Although I like to cook with garlic I never add it to this dish. Once the onions have a good colour add the pumpkin and or squash and mix well with the onions so they are coated with the oil. Add a little more if needed. Turn the heat down to a low setting and cover - leave to sweat for around ten minutes checking every 4 or 5 minutes to stir and ensure there is enough liquid to stop the contents catching. The vegetable will start to breakdown and soften so keep an eye on the pan because just at the point when it is starting to cook through you need to add the drained aduki beans and mix well.
You can add the mint/peppermint now if you like but if you are using fresh add it at near the end of cooking as it will maintain it's flavour more. You can also add pepper and salt at this point but be very sparing with the salt as you are going to add the soya sauce near the end. Add the stock (made with some of the juice from the can of beans) - you can leave the mash at this stage and continue to cook it later but this is probably a good point to start cooking the rice. I will hopefully blog on cooking rice at some point but for now just follow the method you normally use to cook it. You can let the aduki mash simmer on a very low heat while the rice is cooking - keep checking the liquid levels and add more if the mash is getting too dry - you can add the soya sauce about 10 minutes before the end of cooking. 
Once cooked add the miso paste* diluted with a little water or stock to encourage it to mix well serve the beans with the rice and a green salad.

* Miso - do not cook the miso but add at the end of cooking (cooking it destroys the natural enzymes in the paste).