Lentil Porcini Stew – Some vegan comfort food to enjoy the pre-Christmas season

 

Hey there!

 

After not being able to have my weekly Sunday cooking session in quite a while I made some big plans for this one and decided to prepare three dishes in one go. I am only going to share one with you today the other ones however will be following in future posts.

 

When we were still eating meat in our household a go-to Sunday night dinner used to be a this beef stew with carrots and tomatoes usually served with mashed potatoes. Since I was cooking for my dad tonight I decided to challenge myself and I tried to recreate this very typical dish in a meat-free version. I didn’t use to be a fan of this dish when I was younger, yet I have been a little sentimental recently and I just felt the urge to revive parts of my childhood.

Therefore I came up with a porcini lentil stew, which had a similar flavour to the beef stew we used to have. By adding lentils and dried porcini you achieve this slightly umami flavour, which is obviously the key to any beef stew. I didn’t actually want it taste like meat, I just wanted to create a similar food experience. Besides lentils and dried porcini I only added a handful of other ingredients, which were canned tomatoes, carrots and as far as flavouring goes I went with rosemary and bay leaves. The whole combination just ended up being absolutely amazing and it formed the perfect couple with the lovely saffron mashed potato we had as a side and the baked red cabbage. The recipe for those two delicacies will actually be featured in a following posts.

My dad was absolutely blown away by my creation he couldn’t stop telling me how amazing it was. He even told me again on the following night, which is a very rare thing to happen at least for my dad. The only food he praises normally is his beloved brown rice he could literally eat every single day of the year. So this must have been a pretty good stew, which can also be confirmed by me. I was quite impressed as well and yes I went for seconds. Well you never know when I’ll find time to prepare this deliciousness the next time. This is a perfect vegan/vegetarian comfort food dish, which can totally keep up with any meat stew I personally think it is better, yet this might be due to me not eating meat. So I am most likely not the most reliable source when it comes to this topic. All I have left to say now is that you should definitely try this stew, whether you are a vegetarian craving comfort food or an omnivore trying to have a day off meat while still wanting to experience similar flavours.

 

So there you go the recipe to this deliciousness.

 

 

 

• 60g dried porcini
• 100g lentils
• 500g carrots
• 2 cans of tomatoes (560g)
• 140g tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• salt
• pepper
• canola oil
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary

 

 

1. Soak your dried porcini mushrooms for 20 to 25 minutes and then rinse them.
2. Meanwhile finely chop up your onion, garlic and rosemary. Also chop your carrots into bite sized pieces
3. When your mushrooms have been soaking for long enough you can continue your cooking process. Heat up some canola oil in a pan and add onion, garlic, rosemary and porcini, fry until browned slightly.
4. Lower the heat to medium and add the tomato paste, fry for another minute
5. Then add your carrots, lentils and canned tomatoes, 500ml of water into the pan with the other ingredients. Let the mixture come to a simmer, lower the temperature to low and cover it. Let it cook for about an hour.
6. After an hour your lentils and carrots should be done and you’re stew is ready to serve.

 

Voila, your delicious stew is finished. As mentioned before I think this is a perfect dish for vegetarians, who are craving some meaty comfort food, yet don’t want to disregard their principles. This stew has got a slightly umami flavour because of adding the dried mushrooms and the lentils. I find this to be the perfect substitute for a meaty winter stew we would usually have Sunday nights at this time oft the year. It was hands down one of the best stews I had and trust me I had a lot of them during my childhood years, as I said the meat version of this used to be my dad’s go to Sunday night dinner.

Enjoy your first week of December, why not celebrate it with some amazing comfort food?

Bisous

Fanny, the foodie