A hearty gently spiced stew of creamy beans, made thick and rich by coconut milk with the gentle sweetness of squash and the fresh herbaceous finish of cilantro and scallion.

Kidney Bean and Kabocha Stew w/ Scallion Rice

Serves 6 - 8

I cook a lot of beans and legumes all from scratch. In all the cooking of these tasty morsels, I’ve found that it is important to cook beans with salt even if they are being cooked again later. As I’ve mentioned in other posts where I cook beans from scratch, I usually add all of the seasonings at the beginning and then cook till tender. 99% of the time, I don’t skim the impurities because the liquid will either be drained or the soup/stew the broth will be a part of is cloudy so skimming is unnecessary. On one such occasion, I needed to cook soaked chickpeas in a liquid seasoned with chili powder but didn’t want the chili powder to be caught in the proteins (impurities) that rose to the top and were discarded for this particular dish to keep the broth clear. To prevent this, instead of adding the seasonings at the beginning, I waited for the water to boil and for the impurities to rise before skimming and discarding them. After this, I added the seasonings including salt and cooked the beans until tender. I found that the simple step of waiting until the water boiled and the impurities were removed to add seasoning made a major difference in how the beans absorbed the flavor of the cooking liquid and that they were surprisingly, just a little more tender.

Traditional bean cookery tells us that adding salt to beans before they are fully cooked will toughen their skins. I believe the opposite to be true and that you need to cook beans with salt to begin their seasoning and have never found that cooking beans from scratch with salt toughens their skins. While I will not say I discovered the aforementioned method, it is not something I can remember having seen or read anywhere else and it’s become my go to method for cooking beans from scratch. I’ve used it on everything from white beans to kidney beans in this recipe and had equally perfect results each time.

With my bean rant over, this stew is simple and comes together in one pot (even if cooking the beans from scratch). The tender beans are wrapped in a creamy gently spicy broth that is unctuous from coconut milk and the slight breaking down of the squash with adds an additional layer of silkiness and just a hint of sweetness. The rich hearty flavors are brightened with cilantro, to finish the stew and the aromatic herbaceousness of both cooked and fresh scallion in the rice served along side.

Ingredients

Beans

*500g (heaped 2 1/3 c) red kidney beans, soaked overnight and drained

1,500ml (7.5 c) water

80g (0.25 c) gochujang

8g (2 t) kosher salt

3 bay leaves

1 whole star anise

Stew

30ml (2 T) coconut oil

454g (2 medium) onions, chopped

340g (2 medium) tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 cheong yang or serrano chilis, roughly chopped

8 garlic cloves, minced

15g (1 T) ginger, minced

8g (2 t) kosher salt

7g (2.5 t) ground coriander

4g (1 t) ground black pepper

3g (1.5 t) ground turmeric

**852g (1 medium) kabocha squash, washed cut into 1” pieces

400ml (1- 14oz can) coconut milk

5 – 10ml (1 – 2 t) rice vinegar

30g (0.50 c) cilantro stems and leaves, roughly chopped

Rice

20ml (4 t) vegetable oil

80g (4) scallions, sliced, whites and greens separated

440g (2 c) jasmine rice, rinsed

700ml (3.5 c) water

4g (1 t) kosher salt

Method

1.      In a large pot bring the beans and water to a boil, covered.

• Skim and discard the impurities.

• Add the remaining bean ingredients stirring well to incorporate.

• Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook 40 – 60 minutes or until the beans are cooked through.

Fully cooked beans will have tender skins and creamy interiors.

If not fully cooked through after 60 minutes, allow to continue cooking checking every 10 minutes until the beans are tender.

• Drain the beans reserving the cooking liquid and hard spices.

2.      Heat the now empty bean pot with the coconut oil over medium-high.

• Add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook for 5 – 7 minutes stirring occasionally until lightly browned.

Continue to Step 3 while the onions cook.

3.      In a food processor, puree the tomatoes and chilis until smooth. Reserve until needed.

4.      Add the garlic and ginger to the pot with the onions and cook stirring frequently for 1 minute.

• Reduce the heat to medium and add the pureed tomatoes, cook covered, stirring occasionally for 10 – 12 minutes until the tomatoes have reduced and are starting to brown and stick to the pot.

• Add the spices and cook stirring frequently for 30 seconds.

• Add the coconut milk, cooked beans, squash and 3 – 3.5 c of the reserved cooking liquid.

For a saucier stew, add 3.5 c of the cooking liquid for a thicker stew, use 3 c of the liquid. I used 3.5 c.

• Scrape the bottom of the pot well to remove the fond. Cover and bring to a boil.

• Reduce to low and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes or until the squash is fully tender.

Continue to Step 5 as the stew simmers.

5.      In a medium pot heat the vegetable oil over medium-high.

• Add the scallion whites with a pinch of salt and cook for 1 – 2 minutes or until beginning to soften.

• Add the rice and saute for 1 minute.

• Add the water and salt stirring briefly.

• Bring to a boil uncovered.

• Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

• Once cooked, fluff the rice and keep warm while the stew finishes.

6.      Finish the stew by adding 1 t of rice vinegar and the cilantro.

• Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired adding salt and more vinegar to taste.

• Finish the rice by gently tossing through the reserved scallion greens.

7.      Serve the rice and stew together.