Tag: tomatoes

Black bean, sweet potato, and peanut stew

stew with cilantro & peanuts

This is an adaptation of a recipe in Angela Liddon’s The Oh She Glows Cookbook. Among other changes, the original has no cauliflower, uses chickpeas instead of black beans, uses less peanut butter, and has a different order of cooking. We tried the original first, and it was good, too, but my family prefers this adaptation.

Ingredients

  • 1 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1-2 onions (red if you have them, any kind is fine)
  • 4-6 cloves garlic
  • 1-2 T chili powder
  • 1/2 t cayenne
  • 2 large (798mL) cans diced tomatoes, with their juices
  • 3 sweet peppers (red, orange, yellow if you can get them)
  • 1 jalapeño
  • 2 medium to large sweet potatoes (~500g)
  • about half a large head of cauliflower (~500g)
  • salt & pepper
  • about 225g peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, peanuts only, no sugar or salt)
  • about 1.5-2L broth or stock (vegetable or chicken)
  • 3-6 c cooked black beans (canned is fine, I cook dried beans ahead of time in an instant pot)
  • 150-300g spinach, kale, or another green
  • cilantro or parsley, for serving
  • roasted salted peanuts, for serving

Directions

Prep:

  1. Chop onions (bowl/group A)
  2. Mince garlic (bowl/group B)
  3. Have chili powder and cayenne ready to go in with garlic (bowl/group B)
  4. Dice peppers, sweet & jalapeño (bowl/group C)
  5. Scrub or peel sweet potatoes (peel if you just can’t get them clean, but the peel is good so leave it on if it’s ok)
  6. Chop sweet potatoes into cubes (bowl/group C)
  7. Chop or tear cauliflower into small bites (bowl/group C)
  8. Open cans of tomatoes (bowl/group C)

Cook:

  1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.
  2. Add bowl/group A (onion) and a pinch of salt.
  3. Sauté until onion is translucent.
  4. Reduce heat to medium-low.
  5. Add bowl/group B (garlic, spices) and a pinch of salt, stir for a minute or so.
  6. Pour in a bit of the liquid from a can of tomatoes and scrape up any browned bits.
  7. Add the rest of bowl/group C (tomatoes with their juices, peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato), a pinch of salt, and several grinds of pepper.
  8. Increase heat to medium-high.
  9. While the pot is starting to heat up, mix peanut butter with about a cup of broth/stock. (You can do this by whisking them together in a bowl or a tall liquid measure, or shaking them in a jar. I recommend the jar method, especially if you are using chunky peanut butter.)
  10. Add the rest of the broth/stock to the pot and bring it to a boil. (This will be faster if you cover the pot.)
  11. Once the pot has come to a boil, reduce heat to low.
  12. Add peanut butter-broth mixture to the pot.
  13. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until sweet potato and cauliflower are tender.
  14. Add black beans and greens to the pot.
  15. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
  16. When greens are wilted and everything is heated through, serve with chopped herbs (cilantro or parsley) and roasted peanuts.

Yield

~30 cups, or 15 servings

Notes

Made with 6 c beans and 2L broth/stock, this usually works out to about 30 cups total stew, with a 2-cup serving having 260 calories, 35g CHO, 10g fibre, 12.5g protein, 9g fat. Exact nutrition will depend on your own choices of how much of each ingredient you actually put in.

This freezes reasonably well, though the peppers’ texture will change a little. Unfrozen, leftovers keep well in the fridge for at least 4-5 days. Leftovers get eaten quickly here as it’s a family favourite.

You can serve this over rice if you like rice. My kids love it this way. I’ve also mixed cooked quinoa (1 cup dry) right in, and that was great.