I’ve been making the same three bean chilli and lentil and chickpea dahl for years now and I’m trying to expand my repertoire for midweek meals.
I’m not an amazing cook so I like to make a big pot of something that I can freeze and eat over the course of a few weeks.
Looking forward to hearing your suggestions!
The three bean chilli recipe is easy AF:
Ingredients: 3x tins of different beans (I usually go for kidney, black beans and canneloni)
1x Tin sweetcorn
1 onion, chopped
2 Bell peppers, chopped
Jalapeños, chopped
Vegetable stock cube
Tin tomatoes
Cumin
Paprika
Hot chilli powder
Cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper
I throw the whole lot in a slow cooker. Then I fill one of the tins with water and throw that in too. Then leave on high for 4 hours.
I can’t remember how much of the seasoning the original recipe said to put in. I measure that with my heart ♥
If you have a blender, food processor, or immersion blender you can add beans, lentils, etc and veggies into a red pasta sauce to get your protein and veggies in with keeping a good texture. Just blend up yours beans and veggies (I use frozen stir fry mix but anything works) and add into the sauce as you simmer it for a while. Works well to thicken up a sauce by doing this, so save some pasta water to get the consistency right.
Depending on time I try to simmer my sauce for an hour or two.
If you combine this with whole wheat pasta you have a cheap, healtht, great tasting meal that’s vegan friendly (if you don’t add cheese at the end). I’m sure this is blasphemy for an Italian, but I love the meal.
I tend to wing it a lot with stew-ish things. Here’s one set of rough instructions:
- Saute any combo of mushrooms/onions/garlic/cherry tomatoes/peppers in olive oil
- Add 3 cups water/vegetable broth, bring to boil
- Stir in 1 cup green lentils/red lentils/yellow split peas/green split peas, stir as it comes back to a boil
- Season with salt/pepper/smoke seasoning/chili/whatever looks good
- Simmer 15-30 minutes till done
Freezes fine, though I usually eat it before it makes it to the freezer
I’m not vegan but my dinner today fits the bill, as long as you use canned chickpeas:
- cut kabocha [pumpkin? squash?] into large chunks
- boil it in water or veg broth, alongside some seasoning
- puree it, send it back to the same pot
- [optional] add tomato paste
- add chickpeas, let them simmer together until the broth thickens due to the chickpeas juice
Amounts are eyeballed (in your case, heart-measured). Seasoning is up to your tastes, but if unsure: I use salt, curry powder, cayenne pepper. It tastes really great with some bread.
And yes, it freezes really well.
