A post shared by Khara-Jade Warren (@kharajade) on Apr 1, 2017 at 6:49am PDT

It’s rare for me to Instagram my food, but Oh. My. God. this one warrants it.

I had a tin of aduki beans that’d been hanging around in the back of my cupboard since maybe…2015? And this weekend I swore I was going to cook ’em if it was the last thing I did.

I’ve only ever cooked aduki beans in one way before—as a vegan version of chilli con carne, only yummier. But I felt like trying something new, so I grabbed a curious-looking casserole recipe online, courtesy of the lovely Áine Carlin via The Telegraph. Curious because it combines marmite and miso in the sauce. It does sound weird, but I love both separately so why not together?

But I was not expecting them to be such a mind-blowingly yummy combination! I had to stop myself from eating it all before I’d even baked it. And the chilli flakes on top just make the whole dish sing. It’s also quick and easy to make, and doesn’t require too much chopping, either.

This recipe serves 2-4 but the whole casserole was finished sometime between lunch and dinner…and there may or may not have been no other adults in the house all day.

Aduki Bean Vegan Casserole:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra for the sweet potato
2 onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
1 tsp chilli flakes, plus a little extra for the sweet potato
½ tbsp red wine vinegar
thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated, plus a little extra for the sweet potato
1 tbsp tomato purée
150ml coconut milk
½ vegetable stock cube
225g canned aduki beans
1 tsp Marmite
1 heaped tsp miso paste
100g frozen peas
1 large sweet potato, peeled and finely sliced into rounds

Method:

>> Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius/356 degrees farenheit/ gas mark 4.

>> Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and chilli flakes. Season and sweat until the onion becomes translucent. Add the red wine vinegar and cook over a high heat until it evaporates.

>> Reduce the heat and grate in the ginger before adding the tomato purée, coconut milk and stock cube. Simmer until the vegetables are soft.

>> Drain and rinse the aduki beans and add to the pan along with the Marmite and miso. Simmer gently for several minutes before tumbling in the frozen peas. Season and simmer gently until the peas are heated through. Transfer to a casserole dish.

>> Toss the sweet potato slices with a little olive oil, some grated ginger, chilli flakes and salt. Line the top of the casserole with the sweet potato, overlapping to ensure it all fits in. Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes before removing the foil and cooking for a further 20 minutes or until crispy and golden. 

{Recipe from The New Vegan, by Áine Carlin}

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Author: Khara-Jade Warren