Squash & Cabbage Stew with Red Miso

Hotpot stews, like gomamiso-yosenabe, are a type of winter dish popular in Japan. I'd had one of Napa cabbage, glass noodles and dumplings when I ate at Cha Ya in San Francisco in 2008 and loved it. With the bounty of this year's winter squash harvest (thanks to Christie's insistence on growing it) I wanted to go a different direction with the squash stews I'd been making and thought it would be fun & tasty to use red miso and sesame to make a rich, Japanese inspired hearty dish.

The Stuff

• 2 Tablespoons canola or olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 4 carrots, cut into thick rounds
• 2 large stalks celery, diced
• 3 - 4 cups winter squash cut into 1-2" cubes
• 1 28oz can Muir Glen fire-roasted, diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup red miso
• 1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds (white is fine, black is more dramatic)
  
• 3 cups cooked Aduki beans
• 1 medium head Savoy-style cabbage chopped into large pieces
• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil

The Making

Saute onions on medium-high heat in a large metal pot with canola oil until the onions begin to go translucent (about 5 minutes), then add garlic. Continue to saute the garlic and onions until they begin to brown (about 5 more minutes) then add in carrots, celery and winter squash. Saute all veggies together for 5 minutes, then add the Muir Glen diced tomatoes, miso, sesame seeds, and 4 cups of water. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer together until squash is tender (20 - 40 minutes depending upon type of squash used).

Once the winter squash is tender add into the pot the cooked Aduki beans, chopped cabbage, and sesame oil. Cover pot and simmer for 15 additional minutes to allow beans to absorb flavor and for cabbage to cook completely.

Serve stew with a steamed grain (brown rice or barley) or some crusty, whole-grain bread.

**I make this with great success in the pressure cooker. Instead of reducing heat to simmer, put lid on and bring up to pressure, then reduce heat & set timer. Using Delicata squash it takes 7 minutes. Hubbard squash take more like 9 minutes on full pressure. After that step I add the pressure cooked veggies into another pot containing the cabbage, beans and sesame oil. The intense heat of the pressure cooked veggies pretty much cooks the cabbage immediately.