CURRIED BEANS ANYONE?

Okay, not the most inviting name for a dish I must admit but I made up this recipe and they are delicious, in fact, I'm trying them out as we speak.

I'm learning so much with my 30 day vegan course and after watching how a pressure cooker can very quickly cook up dried beans I knew I had to have one. I found a pressure cooker for 1/2 price at Woolworths, used it for a quick soak method for the beans, then cooked in it.

Want to know how I did this? Well read on.....

I put 2 cups of rinsed white beans (navy) in the cooker and double the amount of water of the beans. Sealed the lid and put it on the stove on high until the pressure was up. Turned back to a simmer for 3 minutes and took it off the heat. I let the beans stand for 1 hour then rinsed them under water.

Recipe for curried beans

1 Tbls olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 capsicum, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 carrot, sliced
quick soaked white beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp tomato sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp plum sauce
2 tsp chutney
2 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper
water to cover
parsley to decorate

Heat olive oil in pressure cooker, add onion, capsicum and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Take off heat and add all other ingredients. Add double the amount of water to ingredients, seal the lid and when cooker is up to pressure, cook for 15 minutes.

Take off heat and let sit until pressure comes down.

Enjoy.

YOGA

I have turned to yoga at different times in my life, be it taking classes, learning from books and DVD's at home and becoming a Les Mills Body Balance instructor.

I have many things that occupy my time but the one thing that is constant in my life is health and well being. I need to nurture my body and soul and yoga makes me feel calm yet energised, happy and confident.

There is so much to learn, it's not just about the poses as some may think, I have been considering taking on a preparatory teaching certificate for a while now, not neccessarily to teach yoga but for my own personal interest and growth.

Today I decided to start my mornings like I used too, with yoga. The sequence I used is from an edition of Australian Yoga Journal.

1. Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute)
2. Uttanasana (Stranding Forward Bend)
3. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)
4. Adho Mukha Svanasana, variation (Three-Legged Dog Pose with hip open)
5. Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge)

These 5 poses awaken your body. Upward Salute stretches the front body, forward bending brings blood to the brain and Downward Dog enlivens your limbs and spine. The three-legged Dog stretches the hips and Low Lunge opens the heart.

I repeat this sequence 3 times, following with Sun Salutations.