Recipe: Tomato and Aduki Bean casserole

Tomato and Aduki Bean Casserole with Sweet Potato Mash.

1 leek

5 or 6 large cabbage leaves

1 courgette

½ pint vegetable stock

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

300g aduki and/or black beans – cooked

4-5 heaped tsp cornfour

¼ lemon

Splash of milk (cow or soya)

Bunch of fresh marjoram

1-2 potatoes

1-2 sweet potatoes

For the mash:

Peel and chop the potatoes and sweet potatoes and place in a pan with boiling water. Simmer for arouns 20-30 minutes until soft. Drain and allow to cool for a moment before mashing in the pan. Add a splash of milk if the mash is too stiff.

For the casserole:

Chop the leek and place in the casserole dish with the stock and tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for a few minutes with the lid on. Chop the cabbage and courgette and add to the pot (add more stock or water if necessary). Continue to simmer until all ingredients are soft. Add the beans, the juice of ¼ of a lemon and the chopped marjoram. Mix the cornfour and milk in a jug until smooth. Slowly pour into the casserole, stirring constantly as the liquid thickens. Add as much or as little as you like until the desired consistency is reached.

Energetics: A Yin and Blood tonifying dish, neutral to cool in temperature.

Notes: You can of course use any herb to flavour this dish. Marjoram is suggested as its flavour goes very well with the other ingredients, and because it is one of the few Yin tonifying herbs. For the mash I like a mixture of normal potatoes for consitency and sweet potatoes for flavour.