One of my favorite ways to collect recipe and meal ideas is to follow cooking blogs and sign up for their newsletters (check out my resources page for a list of my favorites). I’ve never been a huge cookbook person because I find it much easier to look up recipes online and organize them digitally. Recently, I received an email from a weekly plant-based health newsletter that I subscribe to called Food For Life with a recipe for African Bean Stew. The ingredients, which included peanut butter and curry powder, intrigued me and since I love soups and stews I instantly knew I had to try it out.
A few things are tweaked from the original recipe. I used fresh chopped tomatoes instead of canned and I added a little bit of tomato paste for thickening. The picture of the soup they included with the email looked like the soup had been purΓ©ed, but there was no mention of that in recipe. I ended up leaving mine chunky, choosing to mash some of the sweet potato chunks to help thicken the liquid and create a “creamier” texture. Oh, and I also omitted the soy sauce (actually, forgot is more like it!). The original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of reduced-sodium soy sauce, but it still turned out great! At least this way there was even less sodium in the finished product. π
If you like this soup or try any other variations, please leave a comment and let me know.
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 small sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
- 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 4 cups cooked brown rice
- Heat water and soy sauce in a large pot.
- Add onion and sweet potatoes or yams and cook over high heat, stirring often, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add carrot, celery, and bell pepper.
- Cover and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add tomatoes, broth or water, beans and their liquid, cilantro, peanut butter, and curry powder.
- Stir to mix, then cover and simmer until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.
- Serve over cooked rice.
- Top with chopped fresh cilantro.
