Cuban black beans: one pot
Cuban Black Beans
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The secret to this dish is to rest it overnight to allow the flavours to develop. It freezes beautifully so it is a great thing to make in a batch when you are busy. Below are a few different ways to serve the black beans. One pot, three dishes.
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Cuban Black Bean Soup
Place beans and vegetable stock in a blender or food processor. The quantity is one cup of beans to half a cup of stock.
heat soup in a saucepan and serve with sour cream or good quality Greek yoghurt, fresh cut chili, lime wedges and fresh coriander.
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Roast stuffed Capsicums
Stuff the bean mixture in to halved capsicums. Place on a baking tray and sprinkle with good quality cheddar or nutritional yeast. Roast on a medium heat for 35 minutes. Serve with a fresh salad. This is also good with spoonfuls of homemade guacamole on top once it has been roasted.
Enjoy x
Journey to Wellness
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
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I came across a word this week that gave me pause. I was in the middle of painting listening to Dan Buettner talking about living to be 100 when I paused with my brushes in mid air and just floated on this wonderful word. Ikigai. Ikigai is a Japanese word for sense of purpose and reason for being. Essentially it is a reason to get out of bed. In Japanese culture it is thought that every single person has an Ikigai but finding it requires a deep soulful journey and not all will take it. I love the word. I love the concept. As I understand it Ikigai is about peeling back the layers and fearlessly becoming our authentic self. We don’t have a word for this in English. We do not have a word or a concept that speaks of our deepest nature, or assumes a distilled essence that is us and our reason for being. Ikigai is passion, a purpose, a way to make money and a responsibility to yourself and the planet. Ikigai is like a tenuous thread that links us to the world and offers it a unique gift that only we have.
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Ikigai is about peeling back the layers and fearlessly becoming our authentic self.
I can’t stop thinking about Ikigai and the fact that the society I belong to has nothing like this word to offer me. Luckily we are globally positioned in a digital age, we can cherry pick from ancient cultures and schools of thought.
One of the reasons I love the concept of Ikigai so very much is because I think I am on the path to finding my own. When I got sober and started to eat clean my life changed in all sorts of big and little ways. My desire to eat clean wholesome food reignited a passion for cooking and I started to share recipes on a blog that led me to blogging here. My passion for health was borne from a genuine sense of wellness and connectivity to myself, and to my place in the world. I can not say wellness is my Ikigai but I feel as though I am on the path to my Ikigai through my personal journey to wellness.
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Dan Beuttner describes Ikigai as a reason for getting out of bed and claims that Ikigai is one of the reasons so many people in Okinawa lead such long and healthy lives. For me art is a reason to get out of bed. I love to paint and I love to have a medium to express myself creatively. I have struggled against my own mediocrity, ego and judgement. Now I just paint. When I think about cooking and painting I can see there is a link. I can see that my Ikigai is something that is made from my hands and makes each day a rich one. I have always gotten out of bed for food but now that I am cooking wholefood I feel as though I am serving myself and the people I love health. Not just healthy food but a bowl of health, a bowl of fresh nutrient dense food that heals, nourishes and tastes amazing.
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My Ikigai is like a shape. A shadow. It is like waking up from a dream and trying to catch the tail of delicious story as it slips form your consciousness. I am tantalizingly close, I can feel it but I cannot know it. There is more of my path and story to be revealed to me on the journey. Please God may I not lose my way.
Cuban black beans: one pot
Three Cuban meals in one pot of beans and some Japanese wisdom on finding my authentic self.
Servings
Prep time
Cook time
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups black beans soaked overnight
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 onions – finely diced
- 2 celery sticks – diced
- 1 x red or green – capsicum finely diced
- 6 cloves garlic – chopped or pounded in mortar and pestle
- 2 green chili – diced
- 6 cups water
- 2 bay leaves – preferably fresh
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- fresh coriander and lime wedges to serve
Method
- Place onions and extra virgin olive oil in a heavy based saucepan and cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes. Add celery, capsicum, chili, bay leaves and garlic and continue to cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Place the soaked drained beans in the pot with water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat so that the beans are on a gentle simmer and leave for 50 minutes with the lid on.
- Toast cumin in a dry frying pan until fragrant and pound in mortar and pestle. Add cumin, oregano, salt and apple cider vinegar to the pot and cook for a further 5 minutes. Make sure you add the salt right at the end otherwise the beans will not soften.
Tried this recipe? Mention @wellbeing_magazine or tag #wbrecipe!