A delicious Miso stew with haricot beans and cavolo nero. Subtle tasting, healing and comforting. You can't go far wrong with a stew if you want a quick, easy way to eat nourishing food. Stews are great options for weekday dinners and work lunch boxes. Good food for busy people! One pot wonders that can easily be reheated, and their flavours even develop over a few days.
The one thing I always have in my pantry is different varieties of beans and lentils. This habit was formed during my early days when I moved to London to study and work as a chef. Due to my unpredictable routine, I could rarely buy anything fresh as it would always end up in the bin. Beans and lentils became my go-to for rustling up something to eat if I was home. This miso stew recipe is from when I worked as a Japanese chef, and I practically had miso in everything. This stew is simple, nourishing and flavourful and one that you want to add it to your weekly meal list.
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Ingredients
- Haricot beans
- Cavolo nero
- White Miso
- Celery
- Garlic
- White onion
- Red Onion
- Spring onion
- Vegetable stock
- Vegan butter
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Lemon
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Soak the dried haricot beans in water overnight.
First, prepare your ingredients:
- Finely chop the white onions, garlic and celery.
- Finely slice the red onion (for garnish)
- Wash and cut cavolo nero leaves into 1 cm ribbons and finely chop the stems.
In a large pan, melt the butter and gently fry the finely chopped white onion, garlic and celery until soft.
Add the soaked and drained beans, vegetable stock, salt and pepper and baking soda. The baking soda reduces the time for the beans to cook. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes or until the beans are soft and can be broken when pressed between your fingers.
While the beans are cooking, heat oil in a small pan and fry onion slices till golden. Drain and set aside to use as garnish.
Mix in miso and crush some of the beans with the back of a ladle to thicken the liquid.
To finish, add cavalo nero, juice of half a lemon and spring onion
Serve hot, garnished with fried onion.
Substitutions
You can replace Haricot beans with white beans like cannellini or butter beans.
Substitute cavolo nero with either curly kale or cabbage, or even add any vegetables you have access to.
Variations
Try this recipe with red miso if you want a more robust miso flavour.
Storage
This miso stew can be stored in the fridge for up to three days in an airtight container. You will lose the green colour of cavolo nero when reheating. When reheating, please do not bring it to a boil, as you will lose the healing properties of miso. Miso is a probiotic, and the boiling temperature will kill it.
You can freeze this stew in an airtight container; I recommend leaving out the greens.
Top tip
Add miso only after reducing the heat, and the stew is not boiling.
Adding the baking soda where indicated in the recipe helps to reduce the cook time of the beans.
FAQ
Cavolo Nero is, in fact, a variety of kale. It is also known as black cabbage due to its very dark colour - its main difference from the more common curly kale. Like kale, it's healthy, being a good source of folic acid and vitamins A, K and C. Its colour and robust texture make it a popular alternative to kale.
Miso provides an earthy, salty flavour. For this recipe, it is the flavour star! Miso adds that umami (savoury) taste. In vegan/vegetarian cooking especially, it lends a rich and moreish flavour booster. It's one of my secret flavour weapons in recipes. Miso is a fermented soya bean paste. You can buy white, yellow or red miso; white being the mildest and red the most pungent. I use white miso in this miso stew recipe.
The key to a good stew is to let it cook over a long period so that flavours can develop. The great thing about stews is that their flavour also develops over time, so they make a great option to make in bulk and have over a few days. Stews are often a feature of work lunch boxes in my household!
Related Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairings
Here are some other recipes that I think will go well with this miso stew:
📖 Recipe
Haricot Beans, Cavalo Nero & Miso Stew
Equipment
- Digital scales
Ingredients
- 200 g Haricot beans
- 50 g White onions
- 1 clove Garlic
- 50 g Celery 1 stick
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 35 g Spring onions 3 Stems
- 100 g Red onion
- 2 tablespoon White Miso
- 1 l Vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Crushed black pepper
- Juice of half a Lemon
- 50 g Vegan butter
- 20 g Olive Oil 2 table spoons
- 100 g Cavalo nero
Instructions
- Soak the haricot beans overnight.
- Finely chop the white onions, garlic, celery and spring onion.
- Finely slice the red onion.
- Wash and cut cavalo nero leaves into 1 cm ribbons and finely chop the stems.
- Melt the butter in a pot and gently fry the onion, garlic and celery until soft.
- Add the soaked and drained beans, vegetable stock, salt & pepper and baking soda. The baking soda reduces the cooking time of the beans. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes or until the beans are soft and can be broken when pressed between your fingers.
- While the beans are cooking, heat the oil in a small pan and fry the red onion slices until golden. Drain and set aside to use as garnish.
- Mix in miso and crush the beans with the back of a ladle to thicken the liquid.
- To finish, add the cavalo nero, juice of half a lemon and the spring onion.
- Serve hot, garnished with fried red onion.
Nutrition
NOTES
Food Safety
In a professional kitchen, food hygiene and safety are top priorities, and from the beginning of my training, I practised good habits and routines. Here are some fundamental practices to adopt in the kitchen at home.
- Wash your hands regularly while preparing, handling and cooking food.
- Wipe down countertops and high-contact points regularly.
- If you cook meat and fish, do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat. Use separate chopping boards for meat and fish. Wash your chopping boards immediately after use.
- Thoroughly cook food to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C).
- Don't leave food at room temperature for extended periods (more than 2 hours).
- Store food correctly.
For more details regarding food hygiene and safety in the home, visit the UK Government's Food Standards Agency webpage.
Lynley says
What is the baking soda for?
Chef Tripti says
Hello! Thank you very much for your question. Adding the baking soda helps reduce the cooking time of the beans. I have adjusted the recipe card and instructions. Apologies for this oversight.