Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Lentil & 3 C's Stew

Here's a nice easy meal that is great in winter because it's so warm and soothing and full of veggies. It is great by itself, but also pairs well with brown rice or couscous or baked potatoes or even freshly baked bread.
We make it in a pressure cooker, as it's super quick & easy. We have the ability to saute first in our pressure cooker which is a feature I love, as I really prefer the taste of sauteed onions over just having them cooked in the stew without being sauteed first. However, if you don't have a pressure cooker you can make it over a stove top -  it will just take longer and may require more water.
This has become a favourite in our home, especially at the end of the week when we have quite a few bits and pieces of veggies leftover and want to use them all up before we buy our fresh lot for the next week. My husband refers to this meal as "pressure cooker lentils" - just stating things like they are ;-)
It works with any different herbs you wish to use, depending on what flavours you'd like to add to your stew. We also occasionally use a drop of liquid smoke which adds a lovely depth to the stew. The options are truly endless. :-) 



LENTIL & 3 C's STEW
(Makes 6-8 servings)
You'll need:
2 cups dried green lentils
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1/4 head cabbage 
2 carrots

2 stalks celery
1 zucchini
1/2 bunch silverbeet 
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 Tablespoon lemon juice 
1 litre veggie stock
1/2 litre water
1 teaspoon fresh rosemany

Chop all the veggies. 
Saute the onion and garlic. Add the remaining veggies to either a pressure cooker or stove top. 
If using a pressure cooker, add remaining ingredients and cook under pressure for 18 minutes. Release steam and serve. (You can use baby spinach in place of the silverbeet, add after steam has been released and stir through until wilted.)
For stove top, add the stock, water and lemon juice and cook for 30-35 minutes until lentils are cooked through and veggies are tender, adding more liquid if required. Then stir through the nutritional yeast, tomato paste, and rosemary.


Question of the day:
Do you have a winter comfort food? If so, what is it?

15 comments:

  1. I am so glad I found your site! Your blog is absolutely gorgeous - the

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  2. To answer your question about comfort food, I used to love chicken soup with matzo balls. Is there a way to make matzo balls that will hold well without using oil and egg white?

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    Replies
    1. I suspect that using aqua faba (the liquid from tins of legumes) would work quite well to hold them together. Or else using flax seed could work too :-)

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  3. I know what you mean about sauteing onions first - it makes a big difference! I love these sorts of stews but sadly Mr Bite does not, so I end up having them for lunches over the week if I make a big batch up (which suits me fine) :-)

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    Replies
    1. Making batched sure makes the week easier :-) Glad you can still enjoy stews even if hubby doesn't!

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  4. I like this yummy and delicious food, thnaks for sharing....!
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  5. This looks lovely and strangely enough a bit similar to our dinner tonight but we had edamame with it and few different flavourings to make it a bit more asian. I always buy cabbage with high hopes and so often find it looking sad and lonely at the bottom of the fridge

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    Replies
    1. haha yes I do find that cabbage ends up being one of the veggie that a lot of people find sits at the bottom of the fridge for a while. I love cabbage myself, so don't mind adding it to quite a few things :-)

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  6. Replies
    1. Thank you! Trying to get motivated to get back into it - life is just very busy and to be honest I'm enjoying spending less time online! :-)

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  7. You should try the Organic Liquid Smoke that The Raw Food World has on their shop it's awesome. Are you doing Vegan MoFo this year?
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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had grand hopes of joining MoFo but missed it! I had an awesome theme and everything ;-) Will keep my theme in mind for next year I guess!
      Love adding liquid smoke to stews - have added it to this quite a few times and it adds a depth that nothing else can replace really!

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  8. Love your recipes. Really wish you would return to posting! Anyway thanks for giving us such good recipes.
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  9. Replies
    1. Thanks Jenn! Trying so much to get motivated to get back into it! Maybe in the new year! xxx

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