Hearty Vegan Stew

This rich, warm, hearty vegan stew is the ultimate comfort food for the cold winter days. It is so simple that it uses readily available ingredients from your pantry and fridge. I serve this stew with cornmeal sadza (Zimbabwean pap), polenta or brown rice. Any grain would suffice though, even umngqusho (samp & beans)

Ingredients

4 tbs olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

2 tbs crushed garlic

1 tbs thyme

1 tbs dried coriander

1 tbs dried oregano

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cups button mushrooms, sliced

3 medium carrots, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

2 vegetable stock cubes

2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 can kidney beans

70g tomato paste

1 tbs soy sauce

3 bay leaves

2 cups water

Method

• Sauté chopped onion, pepper, carrot and garlic in olive oil until softened.

• Add in the chopped celery, mushroom, dried thyme, coriander, cayenne pepper, curry powder and oregano and toss together. Let everything cook down for a few minutes until the mushrooms and celery are slightly softened. 

• Add the water, vegetable cubes, soy sauce, along with the peeled, chopped potatoes, kidney beans, tomato paste and bay leaves.

• Cover the pot and leave to simmer, stirring from time to time, until the potatoes and veggies are soft and cooked.

Serve with rice, samp, mealie or cornmeal pap