beans – Passionately Keren

Lately, I’m all about one pot everything. But let me tell you the backstory of this one pot spaghetti bean bolognaise recipe.

A few weeks ago I was working on a video assignment for Everyday Vegan. If you’re not aware of Everyday Vegan, it’s a really cool project founded by Maz (Sadhana Kitchen) and Dan (Grow Space) which seeks to show people how easy it is to live a plantbased lifestyle. Anyway, they were working on a 7-Day Dinner online course and wanted me to direct and produce the videos for them.

I said yes (more like hell, yeah!) and a few days later we shot seven recipes over a couple of days at the Whitehouse Institute of Design. It was pretty intense! We tackled all sorts of problems, from missing ingredients, to animal control. I’m serious. At one point we actually had to tell the cleaner, who was cleaning the rooftop (the building acoustics were pretty bad), to stop singing because the boom mike was picking it up. Elli (our in house, very talented photographer) had to run to the shops a number of times to pick up some missing ingredients, and that animal control issue – well, let’s just say that the dog we had in the promo video was not part of the storyboard. It just so happened that there was a dog (owned by one of the Institute’s teachers, in a meeting room at the time) walking around and barking in the studio and we had to do something about it. It was so cute and adorable and seemed to love being cuddled so we decided to include it in the video. The canine actually made everything better.

What has this to do with the recipe? Well, the recipes we shot during those two hectic days were all one-pot recipes. They were so simple, and delicious, that I was inspired to do more one-pot dinner meals at home. In fact, after completing the video project I ended up doing one-pot meals every second day. It’s the best thing ever.

Anyway, this one pot bean bolognaise is really good if you want a hearty and satisfying meal that is rich in both protein and fibre. And to give some variety of texture and taste, I recommend having more than one type of bean. You can use whatever combination of beans you like – I just happened to have adzuki, soy and black beans in my pantry so I used those.

One Pot Spaghetti Bean Bolognaise

Ingredients

For the bean bolognaise

2 cups of mixed beans (I use 1 cup of adzuki beans, ½ cup soy beans and ½ black beans), soak overnight in 4 cups of water, then drain and rinse
1 brown onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 bunch Kale – leaves shredded, roughly chopped
2 cans tomato (400g)
6 sprigs of thyme
4 sprigs of parsley, roughly chopped
5 cups water
4 Medjool dates, pitted
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tbsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

For the spaghetti

500 gram spaghetti
3 cups of water
Salt and pepper
¼ cup of vegan parmesan (optional but recommended)

Method:

Heat oil in cast iron pan. Add onion, stir, then garlic, stir.
Add thyme and rosemary leaves. Add stock cubes, stir.
Add beans, stir for 2 minutes. Then add water.
Bring to simmer, turn down heat, cover and let cook for 1 hour.
Add spaghetti (or fettuccini), add 3 cups of water. Cook for another 10 minutes.
Add shredded kale and parsley. Cover, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you. Leave a comment below or share a picture and tag me on Instagram!

Keren x

One Pot Spaghetti Bean Bolognaise

An easy and delicious hearty meal for any day of the week.

For the bean bolognaise

2 cups of mixed beans (I use 1 cup of adzuki beans, ½ cup soy beans and ½ black beans, soak overnight in 4 cups of water, then drain and rinse)
1 brown onion (diced)
4 cloves of garlic (diced)
1 bunch Kale – leaves shredded (roughly chopped)
2 cans tomato (400g)
6 sprigs of thyme
4 sprigs of parsley (roughly chopped)
5 cups water
4 Medjool dates (pitted)
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tbsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

For the spaghetti

500 gram spaghetti
3 cups of water
Salt and pepper
¼ cup of vegan parmesan (optional but recommended)

Heat oil in cast iron pan. Add onion, stir, then garlic, stir.
Add thyme and rosemary leaves. Add stock cubes, stir.
Add beans, stir for 2 minutes. Then add water.
Bring to simmer, turn down heat, cover and let cook for 1 hour.
Add spaghetti (or fettuccini), add 3 cups of water. Cook for another 10 minutes.
Add shredded kale and parsley. Cover, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

I like 15-minute meals. Some days, 15 minutes is all I have to prepare a meal. Other days, 15 minutes is all I’m willing to spend in the kitchen.

Last weekend was one of those times where, either I’d make something very quickly or we’d go out for lunch. I chose the former. This salad took me 15 minutes to make using kale, brown rice, and beans as the main ingredients. Since I had leftover cooked brown rice I didn’t need to cook the rice. If you need to cook your rice, add about 30 minutes to your cooking time. You can buy instant pre-cooked brown rice from the supermarket or do what I do, make a large batch of rice in advance and then freeze them. They keep for about 3 months in the freezer and it takes about 2-3 minutes to defrost in the microwave.

Why I love this salad

This kale, brown rice and bean salad not only easy to make, but it is also nutritious, delicious, and satisfying. It’s very ‘hands on’: you start by ‘massaging’ kale with a bit of oil to break down the fibrous structure of kale, making it softer and more palatable (i.e. so it won’t taste like grass). Then you just add the remaining ingredients, toss around for a bit and voila, the meal is served.

Kale is rich in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory benefits, cancer-preventative compounds, cholesterol lowering properties, vitamins and minerals. It’s low in calories (a cup of fresh kale has only about 40 calories) and rich in insoluble fibre which is good for digestion. Beans are an excellent source of antioxidants, complex carbohydrates, and soluble fibres. They help maintain your blood sugar levels, keep you full for longer, and are a great source of plant-based protein. Nutritional medicine not your thing? Just eat this, your body will thank you.

Kale, Brown Rice and Bean Salad

Recipe Type: Salad

Author: Keren

Prep time: 15 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 can of 4 beans mix, rinsed and drained
2 cups of cooked brown rice
2 large tomatoes diced
1 ripe avocado, flesh removed and diced
3 cups of kale leaves, stem removed
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Juice from half lemon
2 tbsp. of olive oil

Instructions

Place shredded kale leave in a large bowl.
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and gently massage the kale with your hand (just like kneading bread dough) for about 2 minutes or until the leaves are softened.
Add rice, beans, tomato and avocado into the bowl.
Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Gently toss to mix.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.