In my meat-eating household, this beanie stew is one of the few vegetarian dishes that leaves everyone happy and satisfied. The first few times I cooked it, my husband couldn’t stop exclaiming, “it’s so good, you’d never believe it doesn’t have meat in it”. I serve it with rice, natural yoghurt and a simple homemade salsa. The salsa isn’t a necessity, but it is nice to have some fresh green crunch. There is also the option of adding fresh chilli to the dish, if you like your food with a bit more bite. This will not be one of the most beautiful dishes you serve, but it will be one of the tastiest.
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 600g sweet potato, diced
- 3 capsicums, large dice
- 2 onions, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped
- 2 tins black beans or kidney beans (undrained)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- oil
- salt and pepper
- water – about 2 cups
- 1 serve fresh salsa (optional)
Method
Toss the sweet potato and capsicum with a little oil and the spices.
Place in a roasting tray, lined with baking paper, and place in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes or until soft. If it is too hot to use the oven, cook them in a large non-stick frying pan over a low heat.
Gently fry the onion in a large non-stick frying pan until soft.
Add garlic, stir for one minute, then quickly add tinned beans, juice and all.
Fill each tin half full of water, slosh around, then add to the pan.
Season with salt and pepper and simmer on a medium to low heat until reduced and starting to thicken (about 15–20 minutes).
Prep the salsa (see recipe below) at this point, if making.
When the rice is 10 minutes from ready, add the sweet potato and capsicum to the pan and cook until it has the consistency of a stew.
Serve with rice, natural yoghurt and salsa.
Quick Salsa
- 1/2 green capsicum
- 1/2 ripe avocado
- 2 spring onions
- 1 green chilli
- 1 large tomato, seeded
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- general pinch of sea salt
- juice of half a lemon
Finely chop capsicum, avocado, spring onions, chilli and seeded tomato. Toss in a bowl with garlic, salt and lemon juice.
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