Shiitake, celery and kumara bean cassoulet

Tam West

Megan May's request to Tom Hishon from Orphan's Kitchen and Daily Bread to create a dish for the Little Bird Organics Plant-Based Challenge resulted in this warming vegan cassoulet. It has been developed using a pressure cooker only as it is important to cook any dried legumes this way to help break down any harmful lectins which inhibit digestion - something which standard boiling does not achieve.

Make this dish at home or taste it at The Unbakery Cafe from now until October 28, with $1 from each sale going to Garden to Table. Get involved in the Little Bird Organics Plant-Based Challenge yourself. Post your own creation to Facebook or Instagram with #PlantBasedChallengeNZ anytime from now until November 4, for the chance to win over $5000 in prizes. Find out more here.

Pressure cooker ingredients

1 ¼ cups	White haricot beans, (called navy beans in the US) soaked overnight for 12 hours in 1 litre filtered water then drained and rinsed well (Main)
3	Carrots, peeled and diced
2	Celery stalks, peeled and diced
2	Brown onions, peeled and diced
4	Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
50 g	Preserved lemon skin, finely diced
200 g	Purple kumara, peeled and sliced (Main)
4 cloves	Garlic, sliced
3	Bay leaves
20 g	White sesame seeds
5 g	Black peppercorns, whole
2 g	Dill seeds
½ tsp	Cayenne pepper
½ tsp	Smoked paprika
1 Ltr	Filtered water
12 large	Collard leaves, stems removed and sliced; add the sliced stems to the pressure cooker and reserve the leaves (Main)

To finish

50 g	Miso paste
12	Collard leaves, reserved from above (Main)
1	Lemon, zest only
1 drizzle	Extra virgin olive oil
1 handful	Onion weed flowers, with stems
1 loaf	Sprouted bread, we used Daily Bread's gluten-free Sprouted Quinoa (Main)

Directions

1. Add all pressure cooker ingredients into the cooker. Stir and cook for 40 minutes. Leave in the cooker until cooled.
2. Before serving, mix in 50g miso and reserved collard greens, and cook down on a stove-top to reduce the liquid a little.
3. Top with lemon zest, olive oil and onion weed and serve with toasted sprouted bread.