VEGETARIAN BLOG: BLACK BEAN AND PUMPKIN SOUP

Black beans make a superb soup - but you have to prepare them from scratch. Cooking the beans creates a velvety, thick purple broth that you simply cannot recreate with tinned black beans.

 Don't worry - it ain't that hard to cook black beans. It just takes a bit of foresight. While you can soak them over night, they don't actually need that long. A few hours is fine. The longer you soak the less time they will take to cook. No more than 12 hours though and at least three hours is a good guide for black beans - also known as Brazilian or turtle beans.

Pumpkin makes a great mate for black beans. And this soup is actually pretty simple and easy. Team it with the coconut corn bread below.


Slightly adapted from Three Bowls: Vegetarian Recipes from an American Zen Buddhist Monastery by Seppo Ed Farrey with Myochi nancy O'Hara

RECIPE: PUMPKIN AND BLACK BEAN SOUP

2 cups black beans, rinsed well and drained

2 tablespoons oil

1 onion, chopped

2 teaspoons salt

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

About 2kg pumpkin, skinned and chopped into bite-sized cubes

1 tablespoon tamari - or soy sauce

black pepper

sour cream

fresh coriander/cilantro, chopped

Soak beans in 6 cups of water for about four hours. Rinse well.  Prepare pumpkin.

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat and saute onion with salt for a few minutes. Add garlic and saute few more minutes, stirring now and then.

Add 6 cups of water with pumpkin and beans and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer with lid on, stirring now and then, until beans are soft but not mushy. If looks like to much liquid remove lid for last 15 minutes so it will reduce down a bit. You want a reasonable amount of broth though.

Remove one cup of the solids and one cup of the broth and puree. Return to pot and add tamari and pepper. Simmer for a few more minutes.

Carefully ladle soup into bowls and add a decent dollop of good quality sour cream, with fresh coriander sprinkled on top. Serve with bread below or on its own.

FOR BABIES SIX MONTHS AND OVER: Scoop out some pumpkin once it is cooked and puree

FOR BABIES EIGHT MONTHS AND OLDER: Scoop out some cooked beans and pumpkin and mash a little (avoid the broth as it contains salt)

FOR BABIES AND TODDLERS ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve as is, or blend and serve

KUMARA AND CHERRY TOMATO SALAD with CREAMY NUTTY DRESSING

Tahini used to scare me a little, unless it was in the context of hommus. But lately I've discovered it's a fine partner to various condiments and can be the back-bone of many tasty salad dressings.

Don't worry about the 'creamy' - it's an extremely healthy dressing. One I encouraged Billie to repeatedly dip her sweet potato into.

This was the first dinner in a week that Billie left not a scrap. It might have had something to do with the fact I starved her all day - well, she had a small lunch and only blueberries for afternoon tea - but I think it's safe to say this was a Winner with a capital W.

It's also one of those Under-30-Minute-Meals - a crucial selling point.

ROAST SWEET POTATO SALAD WITH CHERRY TOMATOES AND CREAMY NUTTY DRESSING

Serves three




Two large kumara or sweet potatoes
olive oil
handful cherry tomatoes
handful fresh mint (optional)




Dressing:
1/2 lemon
1 Tablespoon honey (leave out if child under one year)
3 T yoghurt
3 T Tahini
1 T tamari (or soy sauce)
3 T peanut butter (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cumin






Preheat oven to medium hot - about 220 c. Cut up kumera - no need to peel -  into large bite sized chunks (mine were a little over-sized tonight so ignore pictures). Spread out on oven tray and rub generously with olive oil. Roast until browned and crispy - they don't take long at all. 


Meanwhile, combine dressing ingredients in jar and shake well, or mix in small bowl.


Chop mint and add to kumera and tomatoes in a platter dish or bowl. Stir dressing through and serve warm. 


FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Reserve a little sweet potato and puree/mash
BABIES 8 MONTHS AND OLDER: Mash some sweet potato with the dressing (leave out peanut butter if you're unsure, but current recommendations say it's fine) but please do omit the honey
BABIES/TODDLERS 10 MONTHS AND OLDER: Serve salad as is (without honey)
TODDLERS ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve salad as is (honey okay after one year)

BEETROOT AND FETA RICE CAKES

Where there are risks there are often rewards - and the kitchen is no exception.

This was one of those creations where going into the oven a few deep breaths were taken. And there was no opportunity to taste test when they were removed - the pink and white savories had to be immediately bundled into a container and whisked into the stroller for a run to the train at Bondi Junction.

Thankfully they were the hit of the picnic. Until we got to dessert. Well, there were only three of us, counting Billie, so I confess there wasn't much competition. But Jodie is a fine cook with fine tastes, so her opinion is probably worth five.

Now you might say, well you've done rice cakes before (pumpkin), and beetroot and feta are such good team mates that there's hardly a surprise that this concoction worked. All true. But still, these tasty and nutritious vegetarian picnic fodder don't just work. They are fabulous.

A NOTE ON RICE CAKES: I have had a couple of complaints from readers who made the pumpkin rice cakes a few months back - yes, they got stuck in the tin. 

 Well, I am very happy to share with you all my recent innovation for cooking all things involving muffin tins: baking paper. 

Simply cut small squares/rectangles of paper and line muffin tins. Lightly oil tins first so paper sticks. Will look messy and have lots of folds and creases, but the muffins/rice cakes come out easy as pie, and your tins are left clean as a baby's bottom. And you avoid soaking up chemicals from the Teflon coating.

BEETROOT AND FETA RICE CAKES

Bunch baby beetroots - about 4-5, or 2-3 regular beets

1 cup arborio rice, or other Italian

1 block feta, chopped into small pieces

5 eggs

handful fresh oregano, finely chopped (optional)

salt and pepper

butter

First prepare beets: Wash and cut leaves off but make sure you leave some of the stalk on, and all of the tail. This prevents the juice leaking during cooking. The best was to cook beets is in a pressure cooker - half cover beets with water and cook for 20 minutes once at pressure. Otherwise steam them, or roast in oven until very tender. Remove and set aside to cool for few minutes. Gently remove skins by slicing off stem ends and tails - the skin should then slip off easily. Chop into small pieces, about one inch.

 Meanwhile, place rice in small pot filled with water and a dash or two of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook with lid off for a further 10-12 minutes, or until just soft to the bite. Strain and stir through a knob of butter.

Heat oven to medium-hot. Prepare muffin tins as above. Chop feta into tiny cubes. Beat eggs in large bowl and add rice, oregano, feta and freshly ground pepper. Gently stir through beets. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Remove from tins by holding onto corners of baking paper - another reason not to bother with perfect circles - and place on wire rack to cool briefly. Serve hot, or luke warm at a picnic in the park. Cold will pass too, Billie assures me after she ate one later for dinner on Saturday.

BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Set aside some cooked beetroot and rice and blend.

BABIES  9 MONTHS AND OLDER: Serve chunks of beetroot and feta, or rice cakes as is.

TODDLERS ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve beetroot and feta rice cakes as they come.

Our Botanic Gardens picnic was a special event - Billie's first outing of a dress complete with matching hat and HANDBAG given to her by Jodie when she was just one week old. Don't you wish you had such an outfit...

I had been delaying introducing the handbag but Billie has independently developed a love of all things handbag-like, to the point where we were concerned she would strangle herself wrapping the long straps around her neck. So out came her own little bag with its much shorter strap.

But Jodie turned up with another present for Billie - this time a hungry caterpillar bag. Of course the pretty ribbon wrapping was the instant hit.

HIDING THE VEGETABLES - ASPARAGUS AND PUMPKIN RICE CAKES

Apparently you're not supposed to 'hide' vegetables from fussy toddlers. Well, how about just offering them mixed into plenty of carbohydrates and cheese?

Asparagus and Pumpkin Rice Cakes

 Billie wasn't fooled anyway, or perhaps she just chose not to dig into these today. Maybe tomorrow.


Our one-year-old has dropped her all-devouring love of vegetables and began toddling down the path to fussy-dom. My idealistic plans to not tolerate a fussy eater don't work when you're dealing with a little person that can't speak, let alone reason.

Pumpkin and spinach have so far remained firmly on Billie's menu, so I was a little taken-aback when the chunks of roast pumpkin landed on the floor, with a smirk. Especially since she devoured a similar dish only a few weeks back.

I made these for lunch today, served with a spinach and tomato salad dressed with balsamic and olive oil. When dinner-time came round Billie did manage to get half of one of these tasty vegetarian cakes down, so this recipe still earns an entry.

And anything with asparagus is worth making during spring.

ASPARAGUS AND PUMPKIN RICE CAKES

1 cup rice (I used brown but any will do)

1/4 pumpkin

1 bunch asparagus

4 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup grated cheddar

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

salt and pepper

fine dry bread crumbs

olive oil

Place rice with 2 cups cold water in pot on high with lid on. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and simmer on very low with lid on until water evaporated. Don't stir - you will be able to see/hear when water gone.

Chop pumpkin into small bite-sized chunks and rub with olive oil. Roast in hot oven until soft and crispy.

Oil 12 muffin tins and line with breadcrumbs. 

Chop asparagus into small chunks and steam lightly with little water and butter. Remove from pot.

Whisk eggs lightly with milk and freshly ground black pepper. Stir through grated cheese, rice and pumpkin and asparagus. Check seasoning and spoon into muffin tins. Bake in hot oven for 25-35 mins.

Leave in tins for 5 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack. Eat warm or refrigerate for later.

BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Depending on where you're at, reserve some cooked pumpkin chunks and some asparagus. Blend for younger baby or offer as finger food for older baby.