Serves: 4

This recipe from Belling comes from a new free energy-saving recipe book designed to minimise energy costs from cooking. The combination of beans, red pepper and tomatoes means this dish is packed with fibre, and the spice from the chipotle gives it an additional warming kick.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, peeled, halved and sliced
250g sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 2cm chunks
1 large red pepper, deseeded, halved and diced into 2cm chunks
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp chipotle paste
2 tbsp tomato purée
400g can chopped tomatoes
300ml vegetable stock, made with one vegetable stock cube
Salt and black pepper
1½ tbsps cornflour, mixed with 2 tbsps cold water
2 x 400g mixed beans, drained and rinsed
Small bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
Crusty bread (to serve)

Method

Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan, add the onion and fry gently for 4 minutes, until the onion has softened and is caramelised. Add the sweet potatoes and red peppers, and continue to fry gently for a further 3 minutes.
Next add the garlic, smoked paprika, chipotle paste and tomato purée, and continue to cook for a minute until the vegetables are coated in the spices.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes, vegetable stock and season with salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover then simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Stir the cornflour mixture and the mixed beans through the tomato sauce and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, until the beans are heated through, the sauce has thickened and the stew is piping hot.
Stir ¾ of the chopped parsley through the stew and check the seasoning.
Serve the stew in warm bowls, with a sprinkling of the remaining chopped parsley and some crusty bread.

3 hearty plant-based stews to help you embrace the start of autumn