Tag Archives: stew

Mediterranean Lentil Stew

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Delicious and comforting stew for fall days!

Ingredients

  • 1 lb dried lentils (your choice of black, brown, or green)
  • ½ lb dried cannellini beans
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
  • 3 celery stalks, sliced
  • 2 cans tomato paste
  • 4 tbsp Better than Bouillon vegetarian chicken concentrate (or ~6 TBSP vegan broth powder)
  • ⅔ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tbsp dill
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • optional ⅔ cup texturized vegetable protein

Process

Add cannellini beans, onion, celery, to Instant Pot with enough water to cover them by about two inches. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes and then vent to release.

Add lentils, tomatoes, bouillon, spices, along with enough water to again cover cover by about two inches. Cook on high pressure for 9 minutes and then vent to release.

Put the instant pot on sauté. Add tomato paste and stir in. If you would like to add some TVP for the extra chew, add it here. Then allow to cook, stirring often but gently, until the beans and lentils are as soft as you would like. This only took 5 minutes for me today, but that varies with age of the beans and other factors.

Serve with rice or just some nice crusty bread. We had it with pearl couscous, avocado, sour cream, and hot sauce.

Spicy Peanut Stew

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This ended up being even more delicious than I thought it would be! It’s a little spicy, a little tangy, and a lot of comforting.

I only used 2 sweet potatoes, but they were HUGE (image below next to a standard box grater and 6 inch (blade) knife for comparison). You may need 4 or so if they are more regular sized.

Ingredients

1 onion, diced
1.5 tbs ginger, grated
1 ½ tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp cumin
2 lbs or so of sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 cans tomato paste
1 cup smooth peanut butter
8 cups vegetable broth
1 bunch kale, stems removed and coarsely chopped
Salt
1/2 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Rice prepared your favorite way
Hot sauce if desired

Process

You can use an instant pot for this, or go with a stock pot. I have directions below for both.

Sauté onions, garlic, and ginger for 2-3 minutes.

Add cumin and sweet potatoes and continue to sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Add tomato paste, vegetable broth, and peanut butter. At this point, if you are using an Instant Pot, pressure cook for 10 minutes, allow to depressurize for 10 minutes and then release if not already done. If you are using your a stock pot, bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes are soft.

Once the potatoes are done, use an immersion blender or mixer to mash the potatoes to your desired level of smoothness. Add the kale and allow it to simmer another 10 minutes while you finish up your accompaniments. Salt to taste.

Serve with rice, chopped peanuts, chopped cilantro, hot sauce, and some homemade garlic sourdough bread if you happen to have it handy (ha!).

Slow Cooker Veggie Stew and Polenta

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This is one of those “clean out the veggie drawers” kind of recipes. I listed below what I put in, but you can make this more like ratatouille by skipping the carrots, chickpeas, and mushrooms and adding more eggplant and some zucchini.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil 
  • 1 eggplant, cubed 
  • 2 stalks celery 
  • 2 summer squash, chopped 
  • 1 red pepper, chopped 
  • 1 onion, sliced 
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 4 oz mushrooms 
  • 2 tbsp garlic, minced 
  • 2 tbsp Italian seasoning 
  • 28 oz diced tomatoes 
  • 1-2 tsp capers
  • Salt and pepper 
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
  • 2 18 oz. prepared polenta tube
  • Vegan parm (purchase or make using nutritional yeast combined with finely crushed pine nuts or almonds and sea salt)

Process

Chop your veggies. Add everything but the polenta to your slow cooker or Instant Pot. In a slow cooker, give it about 4 hours. In the Instant Pot, you’ll want about 5 hours.

About ½ hour before the stew is complete, oven fry the polenta in ½ inch slices. Place a little olive oil in a baking pan. Add slices. Sprinkle with vegan parmesan. Bake at 375, flipping over when bottom begins to brown.

Serve stew over polenta with your choice of seasonings or hot sauce.