Chickpea stew

This was taken from several different recipes.

1/2 cup by volume dried chickpeas

1/2 litre boiling water

1 vegetable stock cube

1/2 litre cold water

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 large onion

large chunk butternut squash

A few mushrooms (up to 1/3 large punnet)

I broccoli stem (you can add some florets if you like, but I didn't)

2 cloves garlic

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Seasoning to taste - I used pepper, mixed herbs and a teaspoonful of vinegar - the stock cube meant it didn't need salt.

Soak the chickpeas in boiling water for at least an hour, ideally more.  Then drain and rinse, and put in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot with the stock cube and cold water and cook on high for 12 minutes, allowing it to come down from pressure at room temperature.  You can, of course, boil the chickpeas on the stove, but that will take at least 45 minutes to an hour, Or, of course, you could use a large tin.

In the meantime, chop the onion and sweat in the oil for a few minutes while you peel and chop the rest of the vegetables.  Add them to the pot, and stir, allowing them to sweat a bit.  Now take about 1/3 of the chickpeas and some of their cooking water and blitz until smooth.  Add this to the pot, plus the tinned tomatoes and as much of the rest of the chickpea liquid as you need to rinse out the tin of tomatoes.  If you are using tinned chickpeas, use cold water for this, unless you actively like aquafaba, which I don't!

Season to taste, and then bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.  This will serve 3 or 4, especially if you add rice or quinoa or similar.  I used quinoa to add more protein.  

I think, were I to make it again, I'd use a small tin of chickpeas to blitz up and thicken it, as I didn't think there were quite enough chickpeas left.  As I have a lot of the stew left over, I'll add a small tin to it before we have it again.  

Bean and tomato stew

So yesterday I made a sauce for pasta using a tin of chopped tomato with chili, and another tin of chopped tomato with onion and garlic, which I tossed into a pan with half a tin of water (rinsed out both tins), and left it to get on with it.  But it was rather liquid, so to thicken it I got out a small tin of red kidney beans which I blended with a stick blender and stirred in.  Seasoned, the sauce was delicious with Schwabian Maultasche, but we only wanted about half of it.

So tonight......

1/2 cup cannelini beans, soaked for one hour in boiling water

1 vegetable stock cube

1 very large onion (or two small ones)

1 red pepper

1 chili pepper

1 garlic clove

1 pack unsmoked lardons 

The end of a punnet of mushrooms

1/2 quantity of tomato sauce, see introduction

Put the beans into a pressure cooker with 1/2 the onion, 1/2 the pepper, the chili, the garlic and the stock cube.  Leave the onion and pepper whole; I did cut the chili in half and removed the seeds, but you don't have to.  Cover with water, and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before releasing pressure, and ideally let it release pressure naturally.

Chop the other half of the onions and pepper, and fry them up in a heavy-based pan with the lardons and mushrooms.  Add the tomato sauce.  Remove the onion, pepper and chili (and garlic if you can get it) from the pressure cooker, and blend with a tablespoonful of stock.  Add this to the casserole.  Stir well and check the seasoning, and let simmer for about 1/2 an hour.  Serve with crusty bread and butter.

Stir-fried vegetables with fish (or whatever) and pilau rice

I rather think this is one of those unrepeatable dishes, but I had half a trout and half a pack of (packet) hollandaise sauce, and didn't fancy a fish pie, so improvised.  But the basic idea could work for all sorts of things....  This served 2

For the rice:

c 1 tbs cooking oil

a little salt

1 tsp Pilau seasoning (bought in Nour, Brixton)

1/2 cup (125 ml) long-grain white rice (I used Basmati, but whatever you like)

1 cup (250 ml) boiling water

Hot the cooking oil, then stir in the salt and spices.  Add the rice and stir thoroughly.  Add the boiling water, stir again, then cover and reduce the heat to as low as possible for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat, and let stand for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile

Another tbs cooking oil

Various vegetables, diced.  I used:

A slice of butternut squash

1/2 yellow pepper

1 medium courgette

1 small pak choi

A sloosh garlic paste

A few drops of sriracha

1 tsp Dunns River All-purpose seasoning

1/2 tsp each vegetable and fish seasoning (these are from Germany, but any similar ones will do)

Heat the oil, then stir-fry the vegetables for at least 5 minutes.  I then added the cooked trout and Hollandaise sauce and made sure it was heated through, but you could use any fish, or perhaps cooked sausages, cut into chunks, and if you don't have any sauce, then about 100 ml water, or just let the vegetables moisten it all - you don't have to use my choice of veg, but a range of different colours is always good.  If you wanted it veggie or vegan, you could add peas or beans and sweetcorn to balance out the proteins.  

Vegetable "sausages"

I've put sausages in quotes because honestly, I think it would be easier to form them into patties or burgers, but whatever.  I thought this would feed 2, but it was so filling we both left half to live to fight another day!

I adapted this recipe from one I saw on Facebook or YouTube or somewhere - really can't remember where.  I happen to have the most enormous courgette you ever did see, so cut a chunk off that to use.  

1 medium courgette, or a chunk off a large one

1 medium potato

1 medium carrot,

1 egg

2-4 tablespoonsful gram flour

1/2 packet halloumi cheese

Peel and grate all the vegetables (no need to peel the courgette unless the peel is a bit tough), squeezing as much liquid as you can out of the courgette and potato.  Dice the cheese, add about 2 tbs gram flour (aka besan or chickpea flour), season, and mix thoroughly.  Add the egg and mix until it holds together, then with very clean hands, form into sausage - or patty - shapes and put on a floured board.  Sprinkle with more flour and rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes or so.  Fry in a little oil in a covered pan for about 8 minutes each side.  I served this with a rich tomato sauce and green beans.

The original recipe used oatmeal, which might have been better for absorbing moisture, and also grated cheese that would have melted and bound the whole thing together, and I think, if I make them again (which I expect I shall), I might use grated cheese.  But the gram flour does add such a lovely texture!