Spiced Peanut Stew with Squash, Chard & Carlin Peas
The perfect Autumn dish!
On these bleak evenings, we crave the most colourful and flavoursome food - and this stew does just the trick!
It’s incredibly flavoursome with no less than 8 spices (!); once toasted and cooked out gently these spices all hang together in happy balance with some warmth from chilli and the creamy goodness of peanut butter. The fat content of the peanut butter combined with the plant-based protein of the carlin peas will leave you feeling extremely content. You could serve this stew with brown rice to make it go further, but it’s delicious and nourishing served on its own as a chunky soup.
The Details & Ingredients
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 55 mins
Recipe sufficient for 4 servings.
Ingredients for spice paste:
2 onions, & 4-6 cloves garlic, depending on size
1 scotch bonnet chillies (or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes) &2 thumbs ginger (or 2 tsp ground ginger)
3 tsp coriander seeds, & 3 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground fenugreek & 1 tsp ground turmeric
½ cayenne pepper, ½ tsp paprika, ½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp flakey sea salt
Ingredients for soup:
2 tbsp cooking oil, & 2 tbsp tomato puree
500 g squash or sweet potato, & 1 tin black eyed beans, or carlin peas
1 tin chopped tomatoes, & 80g peanut butter
500 g water or veggie stock, & 1 tsp flakey sea salt
400g chard, spinach or kale
To serve:
wholegrain rice, & 1 lime
2-4 tbsp toasted peanuts, & 2 tsp chilli flakes
The Method
Start by making the spice paste. Dry-toast the cumin & coriander seeds in a small frying pan over a medium heat just for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Grind in a pestle and mortar.
Peel and chunky chop the onions, then combine all ingredients for the spice paste, including the ground cumin and coriander, in a nutribullet or small jug blender and whizz until smooth. If you need to add a splash of water to enable it to blend, add it a tablespoon at a time using as little as possible.Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large heavy-bottom saucepan over a medium heat, then fry off the spice paste for 10-12 minutes, stirring often until it has darkened slightly and appears much drier. The spice mix may stick so keep an eye on the pan as you prep the other ingredients. Halve the squash and discard the seeds then chop into even sized chunks roughly 1 cm by 3 cm, or thereabouts. Wash your greens and shred into 1 cm thick ribbons. Drain and rinse the beans.
After 10-12 minutes add the tomato puree, prepped squash, beans, tinned tomatoes, peanut butter, 500 ml of water and 1 teaspoon of flakey sea salt. Stir things well and bring to a simmer over a gentle heat; once simmering set a time for 30 mins and pop on the lid.
Stir the stew halfway through cooking.
After 30 minutes add the shredded chard, spinach or kale, stir, and continue cooking your stew for 5 minutes just to wilt the greens.
Serve in warmed bowls, perhaps with some brown rice, topped with chilli flakes, a squeeze of lime, and some toasted, salted peanuts.