Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Jamaican Red Bean Stew

"Jamaican Red Bean Stew" (page 252) is a hearty dish with distinct flavors that, as the recipe promises, fills your house with the fragrant aromas of Jamaican spices.  Onions, carrots, sweet potato, and red beans are cooked in a thick sauce spiced with curry, thyme, allspice, and red pepper.  The recipe calls for coconut milk, which I avoid due to the high saturated fat content, and instead used 1 cup of soymilk to which I added ½ teaspoon of coconut extract.  Coconut milk would have helped thicken the stew, so to compensate for that, I stirred a tablespoon of cornstarch into the soymilk mixture before adding it in.  The only other change I made was to sauté the onions and carrots in a little water instead of oil.  Oh, and I did double the amount of red pepper flakes (from ¼ teaspoon to ½), as I wanted it a little spicier.  The recipe suggests serving this over rice or couscous to absorb the flavors of the rich sauce.

2 comments:

  1. Ahhh... nice trick with the coconut milk sub! I was wondering about this the other day, I made a thai red curry (not from 1000VR) that had 3 cups of coconut milk in it, and it was just way too rich for me!

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  2. This works pretty well for adding the coconut flavor and creaminess without all the fat. I used lowfat soymilk, a bit "thin", but you could even use whole fat soy, or even Silk creamer for extra richness.

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