Sweet potato, white beans and chickpeas orange stew

My mom used to say that “eating with a spoon” several times a week is very important for health. “Eating with a spoon” means eating soups and stews and čorbas (čorba, in Serbian, is a thick soup with chunks of various veggies, pulses and often meat). It would guarantee a complete meal and its more or less “liquide” consistance would ease the digestion. Like with this delicious orange stew that I am about to propose to you.

So much common sense in the way my mom (and her mom) approached food and her job as a chef. Eating with a spoon, avoiding transformed food, eating greens, eating from local farmers’ gardens, going easy on sel and sugar, cooking your own food… are just a part of it. I had grown up with it then forgot about it at some point of my hectic adult life, but got it all back again when I became mom myself. And so much more, because I have been learning about healthy eating for the past 13 years. That is however a whole other story, let’s instead see about this recipe 🙂

Serves: 4. Total time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS (organic and in order of use)

1 Leek (with the green part)
1 red Bell Pepper
4 tablespoons of Olive Oil
2-3 pinches of coarse Unrefined Salt
2-3 small Tomatoes
1 big Sweet Potato
2-3 cloves of Garlic
1 level tablespoon of Turmeric
2-3 Pepper mill rounds of Pepper
1 level tablespoon of  Sweet Paprika
1/2 tablespoon of dried Parsley
300ml of Tomato Passata
1/2l of Water (or a mix of the liquid from the canned beans/chickpeas and water)
you can add more water if you prefer it more “soup-like”
1 Bay Leaf
250g of canned Beans (White, Black, Kidney, Butter, or Navy beans, whichever you prefer)
250g of canned Chickpeas
a handfull of fresh Parsley
some Soy Greek Yoghurt

PREPARATION

1. You can, of course, make this stew with dried chickpeas and beans, too. If you prefer them to canned ones, remember to soak them in cold water over night. You should drain (keep the drained water for your plants, they’ll love it 😉 ) and cook them before adding them to the stew. Cooking may take 1h or more depending on the kind of beans you use (check the cooking times here).
2. Start by washing and chopping 1 leek in thin rings and 1 red bell pepper in stripes (2cm x 0,5cm). Sauté them with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and 2-3 pinches of unrefined salt in a stew casserole covered, over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
3. Peel and dice (1,5cm x 1,5cm) 1 big sweet potato. Cut 2-3 small tomatoes in small chunks. Press or chop finely 2 cloves of garlic. Add all of them to the casserole with 1 level tablespoon of turmeric, 1 level tablespoon of  sweet paprika, 1/2 tablespoon of dried parsley, 2-3 tours of pepper mill of black/grey pepper and keep cooking for 15 more minutes covered. Add a bit of water if necessary.

   

4. Add 300ml of tomato passata (crushed canned tomatoes with juice), 500ml of water (or the mix of the liquid from the canned beans/chickpeas and water) and a dried bay leaf. You can add more water if you prefer it more “soup-like”. Combine everything together and cook covered on a medium heat for about 20 minutes.
5. Add 250g of beans and 250g of chickpeas, combine together and cook 10 more minutes covered.
6. Serve with fresh parsley and (completely optional) with a spoonful of soy Greek yoghurt.