Adzuki Bean & Pumpkin Stew
A Fall Favorite
This creamy and nourishing stew is delightful when the weather starts to get colder.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Soak beans the night before or 8-12 hours before cooking
Cook Time: ~1 hour
Serves: 4
Ingredients
120g (2/3 cup) Adzuki Beans
180g kabocha or similar type of winter squash or pumpkin
A piece about the size of your hand, about 1.5 cups when cut into cut into 1” (2.5cm) chunks
Filtered water
1 cm (1/3") square kombu
13g (1 tbsp) olive oil
1g ginger (a small piece roughly 1/2 the size of an almond)
2g (scant 1/2 tsp) fine sea salt
5g (1.5 tsp) toasted sesame oil
Equipment
A Medium pot and its lid, roughly 1.5 to 2 quarts or liters in volume
For mincing or grating ginger, one of: sharp knife | japanese grater | microplane | fine side of a box grater
Preparation
Soak the beans the night before or 8-12 hours ahead. They are adequately soaked when 80% + of the beans have swollen in size and lightened in color.
Drain the beans and rinse in a few changes of water.
Place the rinsed and drained beans in your pot and cover with 2.5cm (1”) of filtered water.
Turn the heat to medium high. Once the pot begins to simmer gently, turn the heat down to a level that will keep the beans just gently bubbling (med low). As foam rises to to the top, periodically skim off and discard the foam with a mesh skimmer or spoon.
While the beans are cooking, turn your attention to prepping the rest of the ingredients.
While doing that, continue to skim the foam off the beans every 5 minutes or so. After 15 minutes, you will have skimmed off all the foam and you can cover the beans - be sure to adjust the heat down slightly to keep the pot at a gentle simmer.
Cut your kabocha squash into ~ 4cm (1.5”) chunks and place in a bowl. No need to peel - kabochas have soft and delicious skin.
Mince or grate your ginger and place on top of the pumpkin.
After the beans have been cooking for 20-30 minutes, take one and check how cooked it is. You want the beans to be about half cooked before proceeding to the next step. If they aren’t half cooked, cover them back up and keep cooking. Check every 5 minutes and proceed to the next step when they are half cooked.
When half cooked a bean will squish between your fingers a bit but still be a somewhat hard in the middle. Similarly if you chew on it. You can also cut in half and look at the cross section; their will be a color differential between the raw and cooked parts of the bean you can check visually.
When the beans are half cooked uncover the pot and add the pumpkin, ginger, kombu, olive oil, and salt and stir well. Turn the heat to medium high until the pot starts to bubble again. Cover again, and adjust the heat so that the pot simmers gently.
Simmer gently until the beans and pumpkin are cooked and soft, about 20 to 30 minutes. If the stew is looking a bit thick you can add a little more water. If its a bit thin you can uncover the pot and simmer it gently until thickened to your liking.
Taste the stew and check the seasoning, add a little more salt if needed and stir well to dissolve.
Add the toasted sesame oil and mix gently.
Serve and enjoy!
