This delicious and hearty stew is so easy to pull together and let cook in your slow-cooker while at work. It makes a great one-pot meal that we love so much that we often double the recipe so we have leftovers for lunches.

The yams give this stew a sweet flavor and the addition of peanut butter gives it a creamy, rich taste. You can use canned chickpeas, or homemade. Prep time is about 20 minutes, which is why we tag it as a “Quick Meal”.

This recipe is adapted from ‘African Peanut Stew’ in Becoming Vegetarian. We’ve modified it to include more chickpeas and greens, and to use quinoa instead of rice. The recipe would work well with cashew butter in place of peanut, and we’re curious to try it with other grains like amaranth or teff.

The Stuff

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cups peeled, diced yams
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1/4-1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 bunches of kale or collards, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• tarmari or braggs, to taste

The Making

Sauté onions on medium heat until they are translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer onions to your slow-cooker pot.  Add chickpeas, yams, and veggie broth. Mix in peanut butter and add quinoa.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4.

30-60 minutes prior to serving, add chopped greens, lemon juice and black pepper.

Season with tarmari or Braggs aminos, to taste, at the table. Also great with a little hot sauce added!

This winter it seems like we’ve always got a few yams on hand. So far they’ve inspired the Golden Provence Winter Stew, which has become a quick favorite, but I recently had several chilies on hand as well as a large quantity of black beans we’ve been trying to find more uses for. With these ingredients on hand I came up with this delicious, warm stew inspired by Cuban flavors.

The Stuff

• 2 medium yams, diced small
• 3 cups cooked black beans
• 1 large yellow onion, 1/4″ dice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium green bell pepper, 1/4 dice
• 1 Ancho/Pasilla pepper, 1/4″ dice
• 1/2 t cumin seed
• 1 15oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2.5 T tomato paste
• 5 cups water
• 1 T ground cumin
• 1 T dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 t cayenne
• 1/4 t ground coriander
• 1/2 t sweet smoked paprika
• 1 bunch collards, cut up small
• 1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice

The Making

Heat a 8-quart stock-pot to medium-high heat and then lightly spray with Canola oil. Add cumin seeds and toast until fragrant, about 2 minutes or less. Add onion into the pot, lightly spritz with oil and saute 5 minutes, until onions become translucent. Add garlic and saute with onions another 5 minutes before adding all of the diced chilies. Saute all together another 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes, yams, dried herbs & spices and water to the pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 35 minutes, or until yams are tender. Add collards and tomato paste and stir in. Simmer for 15 minutes before adding in the fresh herbs and lime juice. Simmer for 5 more minutes before serving.

10 Servings

Nutritional Info

Serving Size: 2 cups
Calories: 191
Total Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 81 mg
Carbohydrates: 41g
Dietary Fiber: 8 g
Sugars: 3 g
Protein: 7 g

When my afternoon plans this past Sunday were canceled I decided to make up a big pot of stew. Even though Christie was out of town, I knew this would be a great lunch when she arrived home on Monday and we’d have some great leftovers for the week.

I wanted to try a little something different from the garbanzo stews I’ve been making so made up a batch of black-eyed peas. The taste of those with yam and tomato evoked a more “southwestern” flavor so I went with the cumin and smoked paprika to finish the stew off.

Southwestern Stew

2 carrots, diced
2 stalk celery, diced
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups black-eyed peas (cooked or 1 can drained & rinsed)
1 can diced tomatoes
4 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 can corn (drained)
1 large yam, diced
2 small zucchini, cut into half rounds
1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
8 stems of kale, stemmed and chopped up (about 2 cups)
8 cups water
1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin powder
1/4 chili powder or powdered cayenne (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon sweet, smoked parprika
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

You can use some olive oil to sauté the onion & garlic or, instead of sautéing in oil, you can use water, tamari or broth for an ultra low-fat dish. Once they start to soften add the rest of the vegetables (except the kale), beans, corn, and water. Bring stew to a boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer until all veggies are cooked through, about 40 minutes. Add spices, yeast and the kale, simmer for another 10 minutes and serve.

We served this with some quinoa for an even more hearty dish. Add a little Sriracha and Bragg’s over the top at serving, yum! Would also be great topped with some lime juice and a little chopped up, fresh coriander (cilantro) — but I didn’t have any. I did top with some fresh diced avocado and it was muy delicioso!

This makes an enormous pot of soup (about 10 servings?) – more than enough to have leftovers for lunch during the week!

I notice that when I go to post a recipe, it is usually a dessert and when I read the other postings, they’re for a healthy, very veggie-focused dishes. = ) So, as I sat down to post yet another delicious dessert that I concocted for yesterday’s Christmas feast, I decided to instead share the lovely Moroccan Stew that my friend Pam so generously made to accommodate her veggie-centric guests.

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed zucchini
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1/2 cup chopped carrot
* 1 cup cubed yams
* 1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
* 1 cup veggie broth
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
* 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
* 1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added stewed tomatoes, undrained

Heat oil in a large stew pot over medium-high heat. Add zucchini, onion, carrot, yams and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in broth and the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until tender, stirring occasionally. Add more broth as needed for your desired consistency. Serve over cous cous.

Enjoy!