Pinto bean stew with jalapeño corn dumplings
When counseling many of my patients on healthier nutrition, a common barrier is lack of time to prepare foods. I understand. With our busy lifestyles, coming home to prepare a meal from scratch might seem like an overwhelming task. This is when slow cookers come in handy. Nowadays they come in a variety of sizes, features and price ranges, and they can be used to prepare almost anything — including soups, legumes, meats, pastas and even desserts.
Today, I am sharing one of my favorite recipes, adapted from Eating Well. It is packed with plant-based nutrition and my favorite part is the awesome aroma it produces as the spices combine to produce this satisfying and easy-to-make dish.
Servings: 8
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
Stew:
- 1 pound dry pinto beans, soaked (see tip below)
- 6 cups water
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Dumplings:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cornmeal, preferably whole-grain
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
- 1 fresh jalapeño, finely chopped (ignore if prefer a not spicy dish)
- Zest of 1 lime
- 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
Garnish:
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 cup sliced radishes
Directions
Stew
- Drain the soaked beans.
- Combine the beans, water, onion, bell pepper, celery, corn, garlic, chili powder and cumin in a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 4 hours — or on low for 8 hours. I recommend cooking on Low for 8 hours if you are leaving it to cook while you go to work.
- After the bean mixture has cooked for 4 (or 8) hours, stir in lime juice and salt.
- Using generous tablespoons of dough, drop 8 dumplings on top of the stew.
- Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.
- Serve each portion of stew topped with a dumpling.
- Garnish with cilantro and radish.
Dumplings
- Just before the end of the 4 (or 8) hours, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
- Add butter and use a pastry blender or two knives or a fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Add jalapeño (as desired) and lime zest and toss to combine.
- Add buttermilk and stir to form a dough. (See #5 above)
Bean-soaking tips
- Before using beans in a slow-cooker recipe, soak them to ensure even cooking. For both methods, start by sorting beans to remove any pebbles and rinse well with cold water.
- Overnight soak: Place beans in a large bowl, cover with 3 inches of cold water and soak at room temperature for 8 to 24 hours.
- Quick soak: Place beans in a large saucepan with enough cold water to cover them by 2 inches. Bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.
Nutrition Information (per serving)
- Calories: 330
- Protein: 16 g
- Carbohydrate: 58 g
- Fiber: 16 g
- Total fat: 4.8 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 8 mg