Last week I dined out quite a bit. Dinner out Sunday night (more on that Monday), lunch out with colleagues Tuesday, dinner out with friends Tuesday night and a holiday luncheon at work Thursday. This meant no need for major bulk cooking last weekend.
I kept it simple by making one grain dish in the rice cooker: 1 part quinoa elbow macaroni, 1 part barley, 3 parts water, 1 tablespoon Earth Balance and sea salt to taste–cook on the brown rice setting; stir in 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast powder during the warm cycle. Voila, cheezy pasta-barley!
I also made one bean dish in the pressure cooker. I spied a jar of adzuki beans in my cupboard. Hmm. What to make? As always, I grabbed my pressure cooker bible, Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, to determine the cooking time for the beans. I noticed that Lorna included a recipe using adzuki beans but it called for squash (I didn’t have one) and it was a stew (I just wanted beans to mix into meals throughout the week).
Her creative use of ingredients inspired me to modify the recipe for my purposes and with what I had on hand: adzuki beans, ginger and tamari sauce. I didn’t want to use dried mushrooms but I did had some maitake mushrooms in the refrigerator that I had been itching to use. I started eating maitake mushrooms last year. I was in the produce section of my local health food store. I saw the mushrooms and picked them up immediately. They were so beautiful! A Japanese woman walked up to me and said “ah, the dancing mushroom!” She explained that was what maitake meant. She went on to say that they are believed to have healing powers and she and her husband eat them religiously. Sold. I bought them. I love the flavor and I think they make boring bean dishes and salads look more fun.
I digress. On to the beans.
Gingered Adzuki Beans with Maitake Mushrooms and Collard Greens
Inspired by Lorna Sass’s Gingered Adzuki-Squash Stew recipe from Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure.
(Don’t freak out about the lack of measurements! This dish is all about intuitive cooking.)
Ingredients
- Adzuki beans
- Sesame oil
- Garlic, minced
- Ginger, peeled and minced
- Maitake mushrooms, rinsed
- Collard greens, shredded (with a knife)
- Bay leaf
- Water
- Umeboshi plums (or paste)
- Lemon juice
- Tamari sauce
Instructions
Soak adzuki beans for about an hour.
Heat sesame oil in an uncovered pressure cooker on medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger and saute for a few minutes. Stir in mushrooms and collard greens and then rinsed and drained adzuki beans, bay leaf and just enough water to cover the beans.
Cover and bring to pressure. Cook at pressure for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the pressure to release naturally.
While the beans are cooking make the umeboshi paste by simply pitting two or three umeboshi plums and mashing them with a fork.
Remove the pressure cooker lid, away from you, and stir the beans. On low heat simmer the beans and add the umeboshi paste, lemon juice (to taste) and tamari (to taste).
Serve and enjoy!
I enjoyed these beans over my cheezy pasta-barley grains for breakfast one morning and another day, for lunch, I simply heated up the beans, lightly warmed a tortilla, layered super-crispy romaine lettuce and the azuki beans and topped it off with a bit of Miso Mayo,
which made for a crunchy and flavorful lunch wrap. Another evening I simply added some of the beans to lightly boiling vegetable broth. Five minutes later I was eating a hearty soup.
When you’re the lone vegan in the house, one big bean dish (with greens) and one big grain dish can provide three to four varied, nutritious meals throughout the week.
What have you been cooking in bulk lately?
5 thoughts on “Gingered Adzuki Beans with Maitake Mushrooms and Collard Greens”
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This looks and sounds yummy! The addition of ginger makes for an interesting flavor with the beans. Must try. Hope you are enjoying the season and all it has to offer! 🙂
So I, too, randomly bought maitake mushrooms this week to make a mushroom soup this weekend! Glad to hear they’re delish.
That sounds so interesting! I’ll have to keep my eye out for maitake mushrooms. And thanks for sharing the variations you made, I always end up eating the same food the same way until it’s gone, and often get bored.
Sounds delish!
Love this recipe! I’m always looking for new pressure cooker recipes and adzuki beans are one of my favs!