Chilean Porotos Granados
When John and I traveled in Chile several years ago, we had a difficult time finding good low-fat plant food dishes in many of the areas that we visited. There was one exception, a delicious bean and squash stew that we ate on several occasions.
Serves: 8
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Ingredients
Directions
1 Place the water in a large pot with the squash and corn kernels. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place the onion, bell peppers, jalapenos and garlic in a saute pan with the broth. Cook, stirring frequently until vegetables soften and begin to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the paprika, cumin and oregano, continue to cook and stir for about one minute. Set aside.
2 Place 1 cup of the beans in a blender jar. Add 1/4 cup of the basil and 3 cups of the squash-corn mixture and blend until fairly smooth. Return to pot and add the remaining beans. Scrape the vegetable mixture into the pot along with any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato, red pepper flakes and the remaining basil. Heat through. Taste and add hot pepper sauce, several twists of freshly ground pepper and a dash of sea salt, if desired.
Hints: In Chile this stew is traditionally made with cranberry beans. I used canned pinto beans to save some time. If you can find fresh cranberry beans at your local farmer’s market, buy them and cook until tender, then use in this recipe. You will need about 3 cups of cooked beans.