healthy fast food - sweet & sour BEANS

It's been another busy week here at Nourished by Nature! I was running another workshop for the lovely students at Glasgow University last night and the focus of the workshop was Healthy Fast Food.
We made lots of healthy dishes including Baked Sweet Potatoes with hummus and winter coleslaw, Beetroot Marinara with Courgetti, Lentil Bolgnese, Curried Veggie Filo Parcels Spicy Couscous and Sweet & Sour Beans.
The beans was actually the easiest recipe and the most popular so I thought I'd share the recipe so you too could enjoy some healthy fast food this weekend!
Beans are literally the perfect food, they can lower cholesterol, protect your heart, balance your blood sugar making you feel fuller for longer and improve your digestion. This is a brilliant and incredibly easy dish I adapted from a macrobiotic recipe, originally using adzuki beans. It works well with tinned kidney beans and literally takes minutes to make! The hardest bit is chopping the onions! Don’t use cheap soy sauce which is artificially flavoured with MSG and really bad for your health. Shoyu and tamari are naturally fermented healthy alternatives.  Clearspring  do a good range of organic sauces. This is delicious served with some brown rice and simply steamed greens for a healthy, balanced meal which will support every system in your body. Give it a go, your body will thank you!
 
Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 2 tins kidney beans
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 1 pepper, finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons rapeseed, olive oil or sesame oil plus 1 tablespoon for sautéing the onions and pepper
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons rice syrup or honey or other liquid sweetener
• 2 tablespoons shoyu or tamari  sauce
• 2 cloves garlic crushed

 
Method

1. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and sauté the onions and pepper for around 10 minutes.
2. Drain and rinse the kidney beans and add to the pan.
3. Whisk olive oil, vinegar, rice syrup, shoyu or tamari sauce and garlic in a jug to combine, season with sea salt.
4. Add the sauce to the other ingredients and warm through.
5. Serve with brown rice and steamed greens.

    ....your health in your hands.....