It might be spring now, but I’m still all about the comforting hearty recipes these days guys! The weather hasn’t exactly picked up to sprint climates yet, so for the moment I’ll be continuing to indulge my love of all things dahls, stews, and breakfast bakes. Which leads me quite happily to this new recipe! A veggie, protein and fibre packed lentil stew, providing you with a hefty dose of your five-a-day. I’m a 7 (sometimes 10!) a day gal, but 5 a day is a great start for anyone looking to increase their vegetable intake.

This recipe is also inspired by a recent meeting I had with the lovely Sarah and Heather from Sadie’s Kitchen. If you’ve never heard of Sadie’s before, I’ll tell you a little bit about them. They are an Irish company, founded by Sarah Kiely, who create healthy, nutrient-packed bone broths you can have on its own (it’s a really comforting hot drink, I love having a little mug of it!), use as a stock for cooking, or as your cooking liquid for things like rice and grains! Or, in the case of this recipe, lentils!

The Sadie’s Kitchen crew very kindly gave me some of their Chicken Bone Broth to try myself – hence the new recipe! A big thank you to Sadie’s for that, I really appreciated it. It was lovely to meet and connect with such friendly faces behind an Irish company. The broth is made with Irish free range chicken meat and bones, as well as apple cider vinegar (one of my favourite pantry ingredients!), fresh herbs and vegetables. I’m loving having it in the house, and it worked perfectly in this recipe. As I mention in the ingredients below, if you want to try this recipe but are following a vegetarian or vegan diet, you can substitute the chicken broth for vegetable stock! Now, time to cook!

Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of mild chili powder
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 red onion
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 aubergine
• 1 red bell pepper
• 3 handfuls of kale, de-stemmed, washed and shredded into pieces
• 1 400g tin of red kidney beans – drained/rinsed
• 1 400g tin of Bijoux Vert Lentils (pre-cooked! I use Epicure) – drained/rinsed
• 1 400ml tin of chopped tomatoes
• 350ml of stock – I used Sadie’s Kitchen Chicken Bone Broth, but you could make this recipe fully vegetarian/vegan with vegetable stock!
• A twist of black pepper & a pinch of sea salt (As always, to season!)

Method

1. Chop up all of your vegetables, and set aside into small bowls.
2. Take a large pot, add a glug of extra virgin olive oil, and and set to a medium heat.
3. Add the chopped onion and garlic to the pot, and cook for 3-4 minutes until the onion is translucent.
4. Add your spices next – basil, cinnamon, ginger, coriander and chili powder. Stir until the onions are coated.
5. Add the rest of your chopped veggies next, and cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Add the tinned tomatoes, stock/broth, lentils and kidney beans. Stir everything up.
7. Finally add your kale leaves, and stir again.
8. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to the lowest setting, and simmer for 20 minutes or so, stirring halfway through.
9. Now you’re ready to tuck in! I recommend having this stew alone, with a side of greens, or courgetti if you’re so inclined!

Enjoy guys! Tag me if you try this one out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂 x