Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

Hearty and warming, this humble stew is full of the colours of autumn, if that doesn’t make this ideal autumnal food then what does? For the “beef” aspect of this dish I chose to go with seitan, alternatively Fry’s sell “Fry’s chunky strips” that would be perfect in this. You can buy them from Morrison’s, Holland and Barrett or online from Ocado

Yield; Four large servings (approx. 280kcal per serving) Cook time; 45 minutes

You’ll need;

1. One tablespoon of oil
2. Three medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
3. Two sticks of celery, washed and diced
4. One large brown onion, diced
5. One large potato, peeled and cubed
6. One tablespoon of tomato puree
7. One 400g/14oz tin of chopped tomatoes, blitzed with a blender until smooth
8. 750ml hot vegetable stock
9. One teaspoon of both dried thyme and dried rosemary
10. Three tablespoons of corn flour/corn starch dissolved in three tablespoons of cold water
11. 380g/13oz mock beef, or use seitan, thinly sliced. See my recipe for seitan HERE  you’ll need about half of a loaf of seitan. You can use the rest as sandwich slices, or mince and use as vegan mincemeat

Method;

• Add the oil into a large saucepan over a medium heat. Then add the carrots, celery and onion into the saucepan too. Fry over a medium heat for five minutes
• Then add the potato and sprinkle over about half a teaspoon of salt. Cover with a lid and allow the vegetables to sweat for ten minutes, stirring every now and then
• Next, add in the tomato puree and give it a good mix to combine. Once that’s all mixed in, add the chopped tomatoes, stock and dried herbs. Replace the lid and leave to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing gets stuck to the bottom
• I find thinly slicing the seitan or mock meat allows it to be better distributed through the stew. So slice up the seitan/mock meat and stir it through the stew, and give it five minutes to heat through
• Next stir through the corn flour slurry to simmer and thicken for five minutes. Then finally ladle the stew into bowls and serve with crusty bread