Navy Beans with Waterless Artichoke and Broccoli, served with Germinated Brown Rice (No Added Fat)

I started soaking some navy beans, which I've not cooked with in some time, this morning. I recently tried buying frozen artichoke hearts, and had been thinking of cooking with artichoke hearts recently, and came up with the idea of making a dish with beans and artichoke hearts.

I've been enjoying getting consistently excellent results in making my own vegan yogurt. A friend wanted to pick some up and I invited him to stay for dinner. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups navy beans
• Ample water for soaking beans and then enough to just cover beans
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 1/2 medium onion cut into approx. 1 1/4" x 1/4" half moons (about a cup)
• 3 medium tomatillas cut into 1/2" cubes (approx. 1 cup)
• 2 cups quartered artichoke hearts (I used about 2/3 of a 12 ounce bag of frozen artichoke heart quaters)
• 3 cups broccoli florets
• 1 1/2 cups medium carrots cut into 3/8" slices (about 3 medium carrots)
• 1/2 t (or to taste) salt
• 3 t chopped basil (I used frozen cubes)
• Juice of small tangerine

Process

1. I rinsed and soaked the beans in ample water for about nine hours.
2. I rinsed the beans again and put them, along with just enough water to cover them and a vegan bouillon cube, into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked for 25m.
3. While the beans were underway, I prepared vegetables (see below) and rice. I used germinated brown rice that I had soaked for a few hours then cooked in my Zorirushi rice cooker with the brown rice program in a ratio of 1 part rice to 2 parts water.
4. For the vegetables, I prepared them waterlessly in my large Saladmaster stock pan by putting in  the onion, tomatillas, artichoke hearts, broccoli, and carrot, covering, and heating on medium heat till the vapor valve started clicking, then reducing the heat to low till the clicking stopped and cooking for 20 or more minutes.
5. After the beans were done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then mixed the beans into my vegetables, adding salt, basil, and tangerine juice.

Results

Dinner came out well; my friend particularly seemed to enjoy the meal, as did my daughter, wife, and me. The artichokes combined well with the beans.

Ideas for the future

A little ginger and jalapeno might have been nice in the main dish.