Macrobiotic Black Bean & Cornbread Casserole - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 inches piece kombu
2 cups dried black turtle beans, soaked overnight with 2-inch piece of kombu
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 ears corn, cut off kernals and reserve kernals
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ginger juice
2 tablespoons shoyu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
corn oil or olive oil
Corn Bread
2 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/3 cups unbleached white flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/3 cups soymilk
2/3 cup light olive oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400\u00b0F After beans and kombu have soaked overnight, discard the soaking water. Clice kombu into thin strips. Place beans and kombu in a 4 or 5 liter pressure cooker and cover with fresh water so that the water comes to about 1 inch over the beans. Close the pressure cooker and bring the beans to pressure. Place flame deflector under pressure cooker, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 30 minutes. (If you don't have a pressure cooker, cook beans in a saucepan with kombu over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours.).
While beans are cooking, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onions, garlic, sea salt, and corn until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Grate a 2 inch piece of ginger into pulp and then squeeze out 1 tablespoon of juice. Add cumin, ginger juice, and shoyu, and cook for another 5 minutes. When beans are cooked, strain them and add to onion mixture. Mix in cilantro. Pour mixture into a lightly oiled 9 x 13 inch casserole dish - use corn or olive oil.
For corn bread topping, sift together dry ingredients and then blend together wet ingredients. Mix them together until just blended.
Pour batter over black-bean mixture and bake for 40 - 45 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.