RECIPE: Welsh Valley Mystery Stew (Vegan)

[Guest guest]

This isn't really a soup - it's a stew - but of course you can make it thinner

if

you like. We have it in a bowl - with home-made whole-wheat walnut bread.

 

Around ten or twelve years ago we were to visit a long-time friend while in the

UK. She asked, 'Are you still vegetarian?' and we answered Yes. Now this

lady is a great cook, but she is a shy cook, and although I must have had the

best veggie stew ever that lunchtime she always has claimed that she has no

idea what the recipe really was - 'Just this and that, you know?' Since then

I've

been trying to 'duplicate' the great taste.

 

This is one of the versions I have made that we like - though I think it's a

long

way from the original ;=) It's the version in which all major ingredients grow

above the ground.

 

WELSH VALLEY MYSTERY STEW (VEGAN)

 

Ingredients:

(conversions are approximate)

 

1 Tbsp olive oil (or as little as you can get away with)

1 leek or 2, depending on size (about 3/4 lb / 325 g), finely sliced

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 eggplant/aubergine (about 1 lb / 450 g), cubed to 1-in / 1.5 cm

2 zucchini /summer squash (about 1 lb / 450 g), sliced lengthwise, chopped

1/2 lb / 225 g mushrooms, sliced

2 cups (450 ml or around 425 g) red kidney beans, cooked and drained

1 can (28 fl oz / 796 ml) chopped tomatoes with juice

1 cup (8 fl oz/ 225 ml) vegetable stock

1 tsp dried thyme

handfull fresh parsley, chopped

1 small green bell pepper / green capsicum, chopped

1 - 2 Tbsp Braggs liquid (use tamari if Braggs unavailable)

1 - 2 Tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce (check label)

freshly ground black pepper

more water or stock as needed

salt as needed

 

And, for final fillip:

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

1 and a 1/2 Tbsp capers, crushed

3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

 

Method:

 

Put the olive oil in a large heat-proof casserole on high heat, add the leeks

and reduce heat to medium-high. Sweat the leeks and celery in the olive oil.

Then add the mushrooms, eggplant, and zucchini one by one and stir each

for a minute or two to slightly brown. Keep stirring so each gets contact with

the other vegetables and the bottom of the casserole.

 

Add the beans, crushed tomatoes with their juice, the vegetable stock, thyme

and parsley, bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cook for about

ten minutes.

 

Add the green bell pepper / capsicum and continue to cook until all

vegetables are just done. You may want to add a little more water or stock

and bring back to the boil.

 

Add the Braggs and the worcestershire sauce and black pepper and adjust

seasonings.

 

Just before serving, combine the olive oil, parsley capers, garlic and mustard

well in a small bowl and stir into the stew.

 

Serve over brown rice or with crusty bread.

 

Serves 4 to 6, depending on how you serve it and how hungry people are ;=)

 

Best,

Pat (veggiehound)

[Guest guest]

YUM. Winter can't be so bad with foods like this. all major ingredients

grow above the ground. --any particular reason? Beth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

> all major ingredients grow above the ground. --any particular reason?

 

Not sure. Maybe their mamas told them they should be above-board in all

their dealings with the world? ;=)

 

No, not really. It's just that some people don't like to eat roots - cuz of

various

thingies, including taste or personal philosophy or religion, and this could be

adapted to fruitarian with little change. Also, I do a lot of root vegetable

stews

but this one amuses me because not a root in sight ;=) I tried adding carrots

and spuds once, but it spoiled the balance, so now I have another version that

does use many roots - but that for another day ;=)

 

Try it - ya might like it!

 

Best,

Pat ;=)

[Guest guest]

>>>It's just that some people don't like to eat roots - cuz of various thingies,

including taste or personal philosophy or religion

 

What?? This is a new one for me. Can anyone explain/elaborate? Not meant to

offend, I just don't understand. Beth

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the new Front Page. www.

 

 

[Guest guest]

> >>>It's just that some people don't like to eat roots - cuz of various

thingies,

including taste or personal philosophy or religion

>

> What?? This is a new one for me. Can anyone explain/elaborate? Not

meant to offend, I just don't understand. Beth

 

Well, since I'm not among those who have a problem with eating roots, I'm not

a good one to explain. But, for example, those who follow the Jain religion do

not eat root vegetables because there are insects that live around the roots of

plants - and worms - and they might be killed in the pulling-up of the roots.

 

Other people refuse to eat any plant that would be 'killed' by the harvesting.

So, on that theory, fruits are okay, and grains, but not roots and some above-

ground veggies - eg lettuce, cabbage. My stew had, apart from the leeks,

which could be omitted, and the optional garlic as the final fillip before

serving, foods suitable to fruitarians - I think. Or at least adaptable?

 

And some people, for health reasons, eat only raw. Those recipes are very

interesting, and I like to try some of them now and then, although I do not

myself eat raw.

 

The point was not that I was trying to be politically correct (and not that you

were suggesting that I was ;=)), just that sometimes it's kind of interesting to

try

to adapt a recipe to someone else's kind of cooking, you know? Some

religions/philosophies that embrace vegetarianism don't like onion, garlic,

ginger, etc because they are said to inflame the senses. I don't follow any of

these dicta myself, but sometimes it's interesting to make a recipe in that way

;=) If I get it 'wrong' for myself, it doesn't matter - because I only avoid

animal

flesh and products - rather easy, really, by comparison.

 

But really, you must have heard of fruitarians at least?

 

More later - okay? Ask away - I'll be interested in other answers!

 

Best,

 

Pat ;=)