As my time in Korea winds down, I haven’t been cooking much. A few weeks ago, though, a friend asked me to cater the veggie meals for a charity volleyball tournament- my team won the thing, but that’s beside the point. I had to make 30 dinners for people who’d be partying on the seaside beach in October temperatures after a long semi-drunken day of bumping, setting, and spiking (or trying to). My natural instinct: stew. Although Jeju is a subtropical island with pretty moderate temperatures year round, it’s still been a little nippy this fall. A warm hearty meal sounded perfect at the end of a long day.
Living in Korea (and being asked to cook only a week before) meant access to limited ingredients, but I knew I wanted to stick to an autumn theme- I’ve been missing all the pumpkin flavored treats. Luckily, my main ingredient was available in the market I live in, even if it was a strange pumpkin squash hybrid. The stew received raving reviews, and I even had enough leftover to feast w/ a few friends after our championship game, which just so happened to be played in a typhoon. Enjoy!
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 small-medium pumpkin, gutted and sliced (no skins)
- 2 14 oz. cans of black beans
- 1 14 oz. can of kidney beans
- 1 14 oz. can of corn
- 4-5 large tomatoes, diced
- 1 1/2 medium onions, diced large
- 2 red bell peppers, diced
- 2 yellow bell peppers, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 c vegetable broth (can substitute with water if you don’t have any)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsbp oregano
- 2 tsp cumin
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- salt and pepper to taste
Method:
After preparing your vegetables, heat olive oil in a large pot over low-medium. Once hot, add garlic, onions, and peppers. Saute for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil briefly, then reduce to a simmer for 35 minutes. You can always add more water to make it more “soupy”, but I preferred mine to be quite thick like a stew. Serve hot (and try it with my sweet potato biscuits).
Yields 5-6 generous servings.
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