ADZUKI BEANS, CHESTNUTS, PUMPKIN AND SWEET POTATO STEW / SPELT ROLLS WITH COCONUT OIL AND SESAME

After another renovation project, two months of hallway cooking on a camping stove, washing dishes in the bathtub - I am back online! In my new kitchen. I am deeply in love with its spaciousness and the fact that it has enough space for every single ingredient - it will be an exciting space to create new projects. It was relaxing being offline for so long, perfect for overall reset. 

Flawless juggling and simple food have marked past months, now I am looking forward to more complex autumnal flavours. I have gathered heaps of inspiration and recipes that I cannot wait to try out. Sarah Britton's recent post on her blog My New Roots for cashew corn chowder with coriander cream is on the top of my list. It is the epitome of autumn and for warming our bodies in ever-shorter days: you can find the recipe here. A book by this phenomenal blogger has arrived and I simply don't know what to make first! The book is full of brilliant photographs taken by her husband and Sara's recipes shine a new light on vegetables. 

This is a truly autumnal recipe, brimming with colours of fallen leaves: pumpkin's ochre flesh, bright orange-red sweet potato, chestnuts resemble cocoa beans and adzuki beans like warm claret. I couldn't capture all the shades on camera, whether because of the dimming light or the way colours fade. You’ll have to trust me that the sweetness of this stew warms and relaxes the body. All you have left to do after the meal is to play - with your child or a favourite book. I must finish reading the elevating "The Storyteller or The Hakawati" by Rabih Alameddine.

ADZUKI BEANS, CHESTNUTS, PUMPKIN AND SWEET POTATO STEW

Ingredients:

1 large onion or 2 medium, cut into half moons

3 cloves of garlic, minced

fresh thyme, preferably lemon thyme

200gr cooked chestnuts

1/2 cup cubed sweet potato

1/2 cup cubed pumpkin  

1 cup cooked adzuki beans (first soaked overnight and cooked with a strip of kombu)

3-4 cups homemade vegetable stock  

1 tsp. kuzu

Caramelise the onion in a teaspoon of olive oil (around 10 minutes), add the garlic and stir for a few minutes. Add the thyme, vegetables and chestnuts, and pour-in the stock and cook 20 minutes. Add the adzuki beans. Dilute the kuzu in a bit of stock and add to the mix. Cook for 5 more minutes and add salt and paper to taste. For a creamier texture, mash chestnuts in a bit of stock and stir it back into the stew.

Serve with fresh spelt rolls with sesame.

SPELT ROLLS WITH COCONUT OIL AND SESAME

 Ingredients:

2/3 cup wholegrain spelt flour

1 1/2 cups white spelt flour

1 cup goats’ milk

pinch of salt and 1 tsp maple syrup or rice syrup

1 tsp dry yeast

1 full tablespoon of coconut oil

black and white sesame seeds

Heat the milk so it's warm, add salt, maple syrup and yeast and let it bubble up (around 15 minutes). Slowly pour it into mixed flours, kneading with your hands; knead for 5 minutes. Let it rest in a warm place 2-3 hours, covered with a tea towel. Melt the coconut oil if it's solid. Flatten the dough to around 1 cm with a rolling pin, brush the whole length with oil,  fold so the oiled sides touch and let it rest for 20 minutes. Repeat the process 3 times. When you flatten the dough for the last time, cut it into equal 10 pieces, knead into balls, place into oiled oven bowl and let the dough rise again (1-2 hours). Brush with an egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees; turn it down to 170 when you put the rolls in. Bake 50 minutes. Serve them warm.