Adzuki beans with stir fry vegetables and brown rice

Adzuki beans with stir fry vegetables and brown rice

5 points per serving

Yesterday, Jeff and I decided to go to Whole Foods and pick out some new beans and rice to try. We got a pound of organic Adzuki beans, a pound of organic Anasazi beans (which we nicknamed the cow beans because they are white and brown spotted), a mix of some organic brown and wild black rice and a rice pilaf with brown rice, yellow and green split peas and something else I can't remember off the top of my head.

Adzuki beans are common in Japan and a lot of Japanese desserts are made with them. I had found a recipe online for Adzuki and Kale, which sounded good. We went to our local Super Walmart and found some "flowering kale" which didn't really look all that fresh. So, I decided to make a stir fry instead.

This recipe was completely made up as I went. It was so good! Even picky Jeff went back for more!

Beans
Directions (quick soak method)

• Rinse and sort beans into large pot
• Add 6 cups of cold water
• Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes then turn heat off
• Let sit for 1 hour
• Drain and rinse beans
• Add back to pot and add enough water to cover beans
• Bring to a boil; then reduce heat and simmer for about 35 minutes (I simmered for about 45 minutes and they seemed too done to me)
• Start cooking the brown rice while waiting for the beans to come to a boil

Stir Fry

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup teriaki sauce
• 2 Tbs flour
• 1/2 cup liquid from the cooked beans
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp whole coriander, ground
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1/2 of a 4 pound bag of frozen stir fry veggies
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tsp sugar*

To make the sauce:

• Combine soy sauce, teriaki sauce and flour using a whisk. Make sure all the flour is dissolved
• Add the bean liquid, mix well and set aside
• Heat the olive oil and add garlic, coriander, ginger and red pepper flakes. Stir and let simmer a few minutes
• Add the onion and soy sauce mixture and stir. The soy sauce mixture will thicken up pretty quickly; you may need to add a little water to thin it out.
• Add the sugar and more of the spices according to your taste. I added some garlic powder too.
• After the sauce cooks a few minutes, add the vegetables, stir completely and cook on medium until hot (I'm guessing about 10 minutes)

To serve for 5 points, scoop 1/2 cup of rice, 2 cups of vegetables and 1/2 cup of beans into a bowl and enjoy! I'm assuming that a 1/2 cup of these beans have the same amount of points as other beans.

*Note: I originally didn't use the sugar in the sauce. But after I tasted it, it was VERY salty from the soy and teriaki sauces, so I just added a little at a time until the sauce was perfect. I'm guessing at the amount of sugar... just use your taste buds! I think next time when I need to buy soy and teriaki sauces, I'll opt for the lower sodium.

Pics are coming! I'm having trouble with uploading them tonight.