Sweet Potato, Bean & Red Pepper Slow Cooker Stew
A delicious and comforting, whole foods plant based dish for all the family to enjoy.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker or Instant Pot
- Large frying pan or skillet
- Chopping board
- Chopping knife
Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes chunkily chopped
- 1 large onion chunkily chopped
- 5 carrots sliced
- 200 g green beans chopped into 3-4 pieces
- 4 stalks celery roughly chopped
- 1 red pepper chunkily chopped
- 1 400g can red kidney beans
- 1 400g can chickpeas
- 1 400G CAN can crushed tomatoes
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 dessertspoon yeast extract (optional) You can use marmite or any other vegan yeast extract.
- 2 tbsp rosemary dried or fresh
- 2 tbsp parsley dried or fresh
- 1 tbsp oregano dried or fresh
- 1 tbsp thyme dried or fresh
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 6 bay leaves
- Cracked black pepper
- 6 cloves crushed garlic
- Enough vegetable stock to cover
- Handful dried quinoa (optional) Feel free to throw in a handful of dried quinoa to add another element of texture and more protein.
Instructions
- Get your slow cooker on and heated ready for your ingredients. Boil a big kettle of filtered water. Using properly filtered, pure water is best in stews and soups because you won't be draining it. Also, it helps give a better flavour.
- Chunkily chop your onions and get on to fry in a large pan with a little hot water (no oil required). Turn the heat up pretty high. Add your crushed garlic. Let them caramelise slightly whilst you slice your carrots.
- Once carrots are sliced, add to your pan with the onions and keep on the move. Add your herbs and spices. Allow the whole thing to slightly stick then add some more hot water to make a carmelised jus. This is a great trick to help get flavour into your stew with no fat.
- This whole process should take around 10 minutes. Now add your carrots and onions to your slow cooker, along with your crushed tomatoes.
- Now prepare your other veggies by chopping chunkily and adding to the slow cooker, along with your canned beans and stock water to cover.
- Cook on high heat for 5-6 hours until all veggies are soft. Be sure to stir well at the end (and even in-between if you're home). You will find that your sweet potatoes may break up or even disintegrate, but this is good because it will thicken your stew and add a delicious sweetness.If your sweet potatoes don't break up you can always thicken with some arrowroot or cornflour. To do this you should add a heaped tablespoon of the powder to a cup and stir in a very small amount of cold water to make a runny paste. Stir this into your stew and allow it to heat slightly further and thicken.
- Check all herbs and spices before serving. Don't be shy to add more for herbs, spices, yeast extract and veggie bouillon flavour.
- Serve alone or with some delicious crusty bread and plant based butter.
Video
Notes
This stew will last up to 3 days in your refrigerator. Allow it to cool completely in slow cooker before transferring to suitable containers for refrigeration.