Kidney Bean Stew

Today's Meatless Monday dinner was Kidney Bean Stew with Sweet Potatoes and Oranges. It was good with some decent spice but it didn't quite meet our expectations. The wonderful thing about Indian cooking is the smell of the spices as they are tempered. This dish started by cooking some chopped ginger and garlic in grapeseed oil for a couple of minutes and then adding the spices: bay leaves, cumin seeds, garam masala, oregano, rosemary, and turmeric and continuing to cook for another couple of minutes. The smell was heavenly. Next, tamarind pulp, crushed tomatoes, sweet potatoes and water were added and cooked for 15 minutes or so.

Kidney beans and cubed orange segments went into the pot to heat through. The heat was turned off, the pot covered, and left to sit for 10 minutes. I'm not quite sure where this dish faltered, but the sweet potatoes were not really tender, the tamarind pulp may have added the sour flavor and the oranges were a bit much.

We certainly managed to eat this stew, but won't be planning on making it again.

We finished dinner with a bowl of yogurt, topped with sliced strawberries and fresh raspberries drizzled with honey.