Filed under: Vegan Entrees | Tags: amish, autumn, black bean, mason, stew, sweet potato, vegan
Every time I make a stew or a soup I think about Rachel Ray saying “stoup” in that hoarse, mannish voice of hers and I re-qualify my belief that I have never and will never make a stoup, only soup or stew. This sweet potato and black bean creation is most definitely a stew. Heck, it’s practically a side dish. I will admit I probably overdid it on the arrowroot powder. I definitely wanted a stew, not a soup, so I put in a whole tablespoon. Whoops! I’ve thinned out my leftovers with a bit of water, which does the trick. I can’t even explain how enjoyable this stew was. Everyone goes on and on about how healthy sweet potatoes are, blah blah blah, I just eat them religiously because I love them in any form. You can “boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew!” (Lord of the Rings nerd reference) I mean seriously, a cooked sweet potato is the poor vegans dinner of kings, am I right? So when I landed on Everybody Likes Sandwiches post for Curried Sweet Potato & Rice Autumn Stew just a day or so after returning from Ohio’s Amish Country with this . . .
I knew it was sweet potato destiny. I mean this thing is monstrous. I got it at a roadside farm stand, complete with an Amish buggy ride to and from their pumpkin patch. The first thing my Mom said when she saw this beast was “How are you ever going to cook that?” At the time I just mumbled something about tin foil and hours in the oven, but this stew made it only too easy for me to just dice up the potato and plop it in my dutch oven. I wanted to show the relative size of the sweet potato, and I thought Mason would be a fine comparison. Maybe we need to cut back on his cat food a bit, hmm?
But back to how wonderful this stew is. . . no one wants to stare at my cats behind all day but me. For whatever reason, this stew kept reminding me of my mother’s sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving. I hoard, literally HOARD/COVET/STEAL/BEG/BORROW/LIE/CHEAT/SWINDLE, etc. etc. for this casserole. I mean duh, both are sweet potato heavy, but this stew is VEGAN! It’s HEALTHY! It’s got black beans, veggie broth, curry, rice, etc. in it. Like let’s get real?! I think it was the rice that threw me to be honest. The rice was kinda al dente because the stew only cooked about 30 minutes, so it had a little bite to it which reminded me of the nutty crunch in my Mom’s casserole. Basically just try this. And if you are so inclined, go lighter on the broth (maybe 3 cups) or heavy on a thickener (like arrowroot, or cornstarch) and bring this to Thanksgiving dinner as a fab vegan alternative to the buttery rich sweet potato casserole that people tend to have. So here is the recipe, adapted from EBLS original.
Curried Sweet Potato & Black Bean Stew (adapted from EBLS, serves 5-6)
1 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 carrots, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 medium or 1 VERY large! sweet potato, diced
4 cups veg broth
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 T red curry powder
1/2 T arrowroot or cornstarch (for stew-like) consistency
1/2 cup rice
pinch of salt and pepper
1 T maple syrup
Heat oil in large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Saute garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Add carrot and celery and continue to saute until tender. Add everything else, excluding the maple syrup. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer for 25-3o minutes. You want the sweet potato to be fork tender. Add maple syrup at the end if you wish!
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well, I know what I am making for dinner tonight – thanks! Question: do you NEED the arrowroot to make this dish work?
Comment by Sarah Hammel October 21, 2010 @ 2:28 pmNot at all! I used cornstarch to thicken it actually. . . but it should thicken pretty well without anything.
Comment by kebrock October 21, 2010 @ 2:36 pmAlready made your butternut squash soup, and loved …. can’t wait to make this stew! “Stoup” season is the very best!
Comment by Christine White October 23, 2010 @ 7:39 amI’m so happy you like it! I think you’ll definitely love the stew. I also have a black bean soup recipe that has you all over it. Super cheap ingredients save one or two, but its really flavorful and amaze. I’ll message it to you!
Comment by kebrock October 23, 2010 @ 7:58 am[...] finally! Something not soup! Not that I didn’t love the french onion soup, the curried sweet potato & black bean stew, oh and then there was that delicious lentil soup, and the apple squash one, too.. soo many soups! [...]
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