Veggie stew... anyone...

[plumduff-2]

Been looking on site and got quite a few good meal ideas... so heres what I am specifically looking for... And my cooking skills seem to be like Mr BadExamples.. so please bear with me..

On a healthy kick strating this year.. Im not a veggie but we eat a lot of veggie stuff.. (eldest son is veggie)

Anyhoo.....

I have been shopping and bought some red lentils and another pulse which escapes me at the mo... I also have a tin of red kidney beans and a tin of some type of white bean..

Loads of veggies...

And I really want to start making some stews... always loved em as a kid... dont have a SC as yet, but am planning on getting one ASAP...

So just need a few hints and tips... please...!

[Rikki]

I often make the the stew receipe without the meat.

I use all the same ingredients and just leave out the meat. I do still use one beef oxo cube and a vegetable oxo cube, but you could use 2 vegatable ones.

[allIcouldwishfor]

I do a bean casserole, which involves, beans, whatever vegetables are looking a bit sorry for themselves, a tin of tomatoes, a spoonful of balsamic vinegar or worcestershire sauce, some wine (obviously!), whichever herbs and spices take your fancy, veg stock or boullion, and some flour or bisto dissolved in water to thicken it up if it needs it towards the end.

I would say that buying tins of beans is a more expensive way of doing it. it's cheaper to buy dried beans and soak them overnight the day before you want to make your casserole.

[plumduff-2]

Forgot what I was going to say....?:confused:

Oh aye... whats boullion...?

[Rikki]

Originally Posted by plumduff-2

Forgot what I was going to say....?:confused:

Oh aye... whats boullion...?

Another make of stock cubes.

EDIT:LOOK HERE

[sarah0404]

Hi Plumduff, bullion is the same sort of thing as a stock cube. (at least i think it is!)

I have a veggie stew with dumplings recipe. Here it is.

2 potatoes
2 carrots
1 small swede
2 leeks
2 courgettes (or pretty much any combination of veg you fancy)
50g of butter or margarine
2tbsp of flour
1 tin of beans (not baked beans - just what ever sort of tinned beans you have around.)
600mls of stock
2 bay leafs, and any other random spices you fancy adding

For the dumpings you need:
200g plain flour
115g of vegetarian suet
1tsp of mixed herbs - or what ever you fancy
120ml of milk
(the dumpings sound like a lot of extra work, but they are very nice, and filling too, so you can pretty much get away with not making anything to go with the stew.)

Chop the vegetables into bite sized pieces then fry them in the butter gently for about 10 mins.

Add the flour and stir well. Add the tomatoe puree, herbs and stock. i usually add a little bit of stock at a time and stir until the flour isn't lumpy. Then you bring it to the boil. You could probably throw in some of your red lentils at this point too. I think they take about 25 mins to cook? You don't need to add a lot. A little goes a long way. If you put in too much it'll make your stew too thick.

Cover and simmer for 10 mins, then add the tinned beans, and cook for 5 minutes more.

While your doing all the simmering, start making the dumplings. Just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, and slowly add the milk until it makes a firm dough.

Knead it then divide it into small pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. I made the mistake of making them too big. Small is better. About meatball sort of size is fine.

Take the lid of the pot, throw in dumplings - try to to let them get too close together or they might stick to each other.

Put the lid back on, and then simmer for 15 minutes then it's ready.

That's the only real recipe I have. Most of the time I just add random vegetables and lentils or beans to my slow cooker. It always seems to turn out ok.

[lightisfading]

Hi everyone

I'm trying to find a tried and tested veggie stew or casserole recipe , and thought this might be a good place to ask

restrictions: stove top/oven, not slow/pressure cooker, and can't be *too* strict about what ingredients you use as OH won't eat certain veg

[anniebooklover]

hi, you didn't say which veggies your OH won't eat so I've chosen a recipe that easily allows substitutions. This recipe is from the Vegetarian Student Cookbook and is called Spanish Vegetable Stew.

Heat 3 tbs of vegetable oil in a pan and add 2 thinly sliced onions, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tbs paprika, 2 peppers (red and green if you have them) cored, deseeded and sliced and fry until soft and brown.

Meanwhile melt 1 oz of butter in a pan and fry 2 oz of breadcrumbs.

Add 1lb of potatoes (cut into chunks) with 2 tbs tomato puree and 1pt of veg stock to the pepper mixture and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat, cover the pan and simmer for 30 mins until the veggies are tender.

Stir in 2 13oz cans of butter beans and 7oz of baby spinach or shredded spring greens. Cook for 3-4 mins then sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and serve.

The recipe says parsnips, celeriac, greens or courgettes can be used instead. I would imagine that most veg can be used here including butternut squash, carrots, broccoli, etc.

hth

[buxtonrabbitgreen]

My DS likes vegetable stew, he will eat any veg in it as long as it has plenty of dumplings. No recipie really but chop onions garlic butternut squash carrots potatoes turnip. Add sainsburys soup mic (dried pulses) a tin of canelloni beans. Pour veggie gravy over it, (oh and caraway seeds, they go really well with squash) put it in a large casserole dish in a very low oven. I do it on 3 gas or in the slow cooker and leave it for about 6 hours. Then I make dumplings add a little water if it needs it and cook for a futher 20 mins or so. He will then eat this for the next 2 days. It is about the only healthyish vegetarian meal I can get him to eat. He prefers pizza or macaroni cheese for nearly every meal.

[lynzpower]

moroccan veg tagine- again, any veg can be used, along with chopped tin toms.

Chop up veg, I use mushrooms, peppers, onions, cherry toms if i have them, butternut squash, courgettes. lightly sutee in large pan. pour on chopped tin toms, and dpeending on volume a pack of passata. I then wack in a heaped teaspoon cumin, and half teaspoon paprika. Add tin of drained chick peas.

Simmer for about 15 mins then serve with cous cous this is an altered WW recipe, and has NIL POINTS even my OH likes it

[HelzBelz]

The one I usually do is:

potato,
carrot,
swede,
celery,
tomatoes (fresh or tinned),
butternut squash (cut some bits big and some small, the small bits will go into the sauce),
mushrooms,
mixed beans/pulses (optional)
pinch of chilli flakes (optional, but adds a nice kick)
herb dumplings

you can vary the quantities to make as much as you want, and I've made it without the potatoes, chilli and dumplings and served it with a pastry top and mashed potato one day, then added the chilli and served it with rice the next night

[givememoney]

Originally Posted by buxtonrabbitgreen

My DS likes vegetable stew, he will eat any veg in it as long as it has plenty of dumplings. No recipie really but chop onions garlic butternut squash carrots potatoes turnip. Add sainsburys soup mic (dried pulses) a tin of canelloni beans. Pour veggie gravy over it, (oh and caraway seeds, they go really well with squash) put it in a large casserole dish in a very low oven. I do it on 3 gas or in the slow cooker and leave it for about 6 hours. Then I make dumplings add a little water if it needs it and cook for a futher 20 mins or so. He will then eat this for the next 2 days. It is about the only healthyish vegetarian meal I can get him to eat. He prefers pizza or macaroni cheese for nearly every meal.

I have just ordered a slow cooker a Prima which is a `best buy` in this months WHICH mag.

I want to be able to cook dumplings in it but you say 20 mins this doesn't sound very long to me (bearing in mind it is a slow cooker) usually when I make a caserole in the oven I add the dumplings last and cook for about 50 mins. Can you just confirm you mean 20 mins and if you do what is your recipe for the dumplings please

Ta

[rockie4]

African Sweet Potato stew

Ingredients 4 generous servings!


1 onion, chopped
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
knuckle of freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon hot curry paste
350g sweet potato, peeled and cubed
225 button mushrooms, halved if large
300ml passata
300ml vegetable stock
250g spinach, washed and roughly shredded
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
4 tablespoons peanut butter
Instructions


1.Heat oil, then fry onion, pepper, ginger and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until beginning to soften
2. Add the paste and fry, stirring constantly for one minute. Then add the potato and mushrooms, stirring for a minute or so to make sure they get well covered in the spice mixture
3. Add the passata and stock. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 15- 20 minutes until the mushrooms and potatoes are tender.
4. Add the spinach and stir in until just wilted.
5. Take a couple of spoons of the liquid from the pan and mix with the peanut butter to soften, then add this mixture to the pan with the coriander. Heat until peanut butter is to same temperature as rest.
6. Serve and enjoy. I like this with rice or couscous.

Meat eating OH thinks this is the best!!

[rockie4]

Spicy root and lentil casserole (serves 4)


1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 parsnip (~180g), thickly sliced
4 carrots, thickly sliced
600g potatoes, diced
1 litre vegetable stock
2 tbsp curry paste
100g red lentils

- fry onion and garlic until softened
- add root vegetable and cook for a further 5 minutes
- add stock, curry paste and lentils, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes

Dead simple and very tasty!

[kunekune]

Thanks Rockie! I've been looking for this recipe! It is similar (though not identical) to something in the first edition of Rose Elliott's Bean Book, and I was thinking about making it, but my book had fallen to pieces and been chucked. DH will be happy.

[rockie4]

Glad to be of help!!

[bulchy]

I made this yesterday for my lot. I've made it before for myself and my daughter who likes vegetarian food, but isnt a strict veggie.and the OH kept asking me to make it again, my son doesnt like beans so had to blitz his portion with the hand whisk, he said it was delicious.

Potato and bean casserole.
Diced Carrots, leeks, parsnips, turnip, onions, in whatever quantities you need/prefer, fry in extra virgin olive oil for about 5 -10 mins, then add some potatoes and fry for a further 5 mins. I then add whatever pre-cooked beans I have in the cupboard, usually canellini or borlotti (sp???) water and bouillon. I usually just simmer mine on the hob, unless the ovens on for something else, otherwise you can put it in the oven until veg is cooked and it has thickened. Yesterday was the first time I made it for all the family and it went down well served with crusty bread.
Sue

[bulchy]

Forgot to say, theres been some delicious recipes posted here, thanks, I'm definitely gonna try some, especially the spicy root and lentil casserole.
Sue

[matthewking26]

Hi, I plan on making a few huge stews for quick meals when our baby is born. If I make them using frozen veg, will it be safe to freeze portions of it once its cooked? Or does this count as refreezing once thawed etc and risk food poisoning?
Any advice appreciated!

[MRSMCAWBER]

Hi there you should be fine...as you have cooked them and then frozen them its really only re-freezing once frozen food thats a problem-if you haven't cooked it inbetween