It’s not often I make vegetarian meals at home, as I am a carnivore at heart, but this recipe ticks the two main boxes – delicious and nutritious. The kids love it (as it tastes of peanut butter, though not over-the-top), and my wife places requests for it.

INGREDIENTS:

• olive oil
• 1 brown onion, diced finely
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or chopped finely
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 tspn ground cumin
• 1 tspn ground coriander
• 1 tspn smoked paprika
• dried chilli flakes, to taste
• 400g tin crushed tomatoes
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup (or 2 heaped tbsp) peanut butter (or almond or sunflower butter)
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 large kumera (sweet potato), peeled and diced into approx 2cm chunks
• 400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1½ cups frozen peas (or frozen corn kernels or combination of both)
• 2 cups baby spinach (or kale or other leafy green)
• ½ cup unsalted peanuts (or slivered almonds)
• salt and cracked black pepper

METHOD:

• Pour a good glug of olive oil into large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for a few minutes until softened, but not browned. Then add garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, paprika and chilli and cook for a further couple of minutes, stirring regularly.
• Add the can of crushed tomatoes, then use water to get any remnants out of the can and into the stew. Then add peanut butter and stir to combine all the ingredients until smooth.
• Add vegetable stock and sweet potato. Cover the pan and simmer for approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potatoes are tender but not falling apart.
• Then add peanuts, black beans, peas/corn, spinach and cook for a few minutes until spinach has wilted and peas/corn and black beans are sufficiently heated through.
• Season generously with salt and cracked black pepper, and add more dried chilli flakes over served dish (to taste). Serve with basmati rice.