Vegetarian Protein

So there's an article in the Huffington Post this morning, Vegetarian Protein Is Just As "Complete" As Meat, Despite What We've Been Taught, which is written by Kristen Aiken. Granted, it is written by a journalist, not a scientist, but it is certainly of interest to vegetarians. After dismissing "protein combining" as a '70s fad, Aiken goes on to quote a Dr. John McDougall as follows:

"A vegetarian diet based on any single one or combination of these unprocessed starches (eg, rice, corn, potatoes, beans), with the addition of vegetables and fruits, supplies all the protein, amino acids, essential fats, minerals, and vitamins (with the exception of vitamin B12) necessary for excellent health. "

The diet McDougall encourages is about what local vegan chef JL Fields advocates. She puts nutritional yeast, rich in B12, into many of her recipes, so living on a combination of her recipes for risottos, bean stews, soups, etc., would appear to meet all nutritional requirements.

Whether or not I'm getting every amino acid I'm suppopsed to have, I have so much more energy after going vegan and experimenting with JL Field's recipes in her book, Vegan Pressure Cooking. I was playing around with my new NutriPot this morning and made an adaptation of one of JL's recipes. It is "umami" flavored. "Umami" is apparently one of five basic tastes, along with sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. The taste comes from glutamates, which occur naturally in several foods, including mushrooms, soy sauce, and mature cheeses. Here goes:

Umami Adzuki Beans:

Ingredients:

1 cup dried adzuki beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, diced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon paprika
2.5 cups of vegetable broth
2 tablespoons red miso
1 teaspoon tamari

Rinse the adzuki beans and soak for 12 hours (I do 8 hours on a countertop, followed by overnight in the fridge.) Set the electric pressure cooker to "Sear" ("Saute" on some devices) for 20 minutes. Add the olive oil and onions and fry, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Then add the sugar and mushrooms, stir, and fry for an additional 5 minutes. In the last minute of the "Sear" stage, add the minced garlic and stir. Then add the liquid smoke, the paprika, the vegetable broth, and the soaked adzuki beans (drain first.) Cook at pressure for 25 minutes and allow for a natural release. Stir in the red miso and tamari and serve.