Vegan Spanish Stew

This vegan stew is a weekly staple in our house. It came about when I realised we had a fair amount of veg leftover that could be put together for a meal. Voila!

You can throw in pretty much any veg you want, and do try out a variation, you’ll soon find flavours that work and ones that makes your eyes squint. I try to balance this with a good amount of green veg, like broccoli and kale or spinach, and then any other veg like peppers, carrots, courgettes, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, or peas.

This vegan stew changes every time and that is one of its highlights really, as it is always kept fresh in flavour. You have to have the base of tomatoes, garlic powder, tin of tomatoes, tomato puree, and paprika. My husband has this with a good handful of grated cheddar on top, and a crack of salt and pepper, so it’s easily adapted to vegetarians or meat eaters. It’s imperative to roast the tomatoes too, you just can’t beat the deep flavour. If you have more veg, add an extra can of tomatoes, another stock cube and another squeeze of puree. Lime juice is also a must!

Vegan Vegetable Leftovers Soup

What you need:

1 lime

1 can of tomatoes

2 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp Garlic powder

1 tbsp dried oregano

Green veg, eg, broccoli head, handful Kale, handful spinach

Other veg, eg, 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 courgettes, 1 leek, 1 sweet potato, frozen peas, chopped green beans.

1 cup of rice - whatever you have to hand

How to make:

Chop and clean all veg into biteable pieces.

Pop tomatoes in the oven cover with olive oil, salt and pepper, a quarter of the smoked paprika, garlic powders, and a good sprinkle of the oregano for 20- 30 minutes.

In a large pot, fry the chopped onion gently in salt and pepper, turn the heat down and let that take 15 minutes, then add any root veg, and stir in smoked paprika, garlic, oregano, give everything a good stir, add in all veg, stir to coat and then add in the rice and roasted tomatoes, with all the juice form the roasting tin, add the stock cube, tomato puree, can of tomatoes and stir well, add in boiling water to cover the vegetables completely.

Let it bubble gently for 20 minutes, ensuring all veg is cooked, and covered with liquid, top up from the boiled kettle if needed. Serve up into a bowl that you’ve squeezed half a lime into, ladle soup over, pop on some salt and pepper, and if you’re going all out, grated vegan cheese, or if you’re partial, grated cheddar.