Protein packed red lentils, sweet potatoes, creamy rich peanut butter and cauliflower are the star players in this simple and filling winter comfort stew. There is no need for dairy or cream or even pureeing, as the sweet potatoes and red lentils both break down and create a smooth, rich base.
Alright, it may sound like a weird combination, however it combines together so beautifully (and so easily!) that I think you may be surprised. This recipe needs about 20 min of prep time – mostly chopping veggies. Throw everything in the slow cooker, turn it on, let it do it’s thing and come home to a fragrant, delicious stew; it’s the perfect comfort after a long day of work (or play!).
This recipe was originally inspired by Dianne’s Vegan Kitchen recipe for Curried Peanut Pumpkin Soup. I had completely intended on making it because it sounds so yummy but when I checked around my cupboards for ingredients, I realized I would have to go to the store. ARgh! Then I remembered this month’s Recipe Redux theme and decided to go for it with what I had on hand. I’m very glad I did.
Recipe Redux March Theme: Spring Clean the Kitchen
Cook with at least 3 ingredients that are actually in your refrigerator or pantry right now. Try not to go to the store to buy anything new. Give tips on how to make a healthy dish out of whatever you have on-hand.
I had the most random ingredients (as you can tell – sweet potatoes, cauliflower, lentils, a bit of fresh basil). My go-to solution for all things savory is the almost always the slow cooker. Rarely does it go so horribly wrong that it’s inedible and often it comes out really freaking good. This stew is the latter, for sure!
This stew is best served over quinoa or rice or other grain. It’s very rich and benefits from a second component.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 8 hours |
| Servings |
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- 1 medium yellow onion diced fine, see notes **
- 4 cloves garlic diced
- 1 tablespoons fresh ginger diced
- 2 cups cauliflower florets broken up into bite size pieces
- 2 cups mashed sweet potato see notes ***
- 1 cup dry red lentils
- 1 14.5 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup all- natural peanut butter see notes ***
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients
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- Put all ingredients in slow cooker. Set to 8 hours.
** It is very important that you dice the onions very fine. If the chunks are too large, they won't cook and you'll have crunchy onions in your stew. Not so fun. Most slow cooker recipes have you saute the onions separately before adding them to the slow cooker, but lazy me hates that idea and as long as the onions are fine diced, there's no need to. ** I used baked sweet potato because that's what I had on hand. You can also use uncooked sweet potato, chopped small and then at the end of cooking, break it up with a potato masher to get that creaminess. Or, you could leave the small chunks as it. It'll be good either way! ** All Natural peanut butter is very important! The only ingredient should be peanuts (and salt). No sugar, no corn syrup, no additional oil. These additional unnecessary ingredients will totally change the outcome of the stew.