Sunday, May 17, 2015

Spiced sweet potato and kale stew with cashews

If you're like me, you are fond of straightforward meals that deliver flavour, comfort and nutrition without taking hours to prepare. It's relatively easy to tick two of those three boxes (flavour / comfort / nutrition) but sometimes getting all three is tricky!


Happily, this dish satisfied all of my meal requirements. With a whole foods and vegetable based ingredient list, it is definitely nutrition-packed. The sweet potato and nutritional yeast give a creaminess to the dish, lending comfort, and spices and cashews round out the flavour profile.

Oh, and you only need one pan and not much time.


For a heartier meal, this would also be delicious on top of rice or quinoa. It is delicious in leftover form too, so if you like to make meals in bulk you won't be disappointed when you try it on day 2 or 3.

This uses jerk seasoning, which I find pairs beautifully with sweet potato. It is usually quite spicy though, so if you aren't a fan of chilli, either reduce the spice amount or use a mild seasoning mix. I include a link below for homemade jerk seasoning, which lets you control how much chilli (cayenne) you put in.


Spiced sweet potato and kale stew with cashews
A delicious meal for 2 to 3 (depending on appetite and whether serving with rice/quinoa)
Vegan and gluten free

Author: Bite-sized thoughts


Ingredients
1 tbsp + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 brown onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, sliced
3 medium sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and cut into chunks
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp jerk spice seasoning, or to taste (either homemade using a recipe such as this, or store bought)
1/2 cup water
2 cups kale leaves
Handful of cashews per person

Rice or quinoa to serve, optional

Method
Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the vinegar and the onion. Saute until just starting to turn golden. Add the remaining tablespoon of vinegar together with the carrots. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for several minutes. 

Add the cooked sweet potato pieces, nutritional yeast, jerk spice seasoning, and water. Allow to simmer over medium-low heat for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the kale and reduce heat to low. Simmer for an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until the kale has cooked down, again stirring occasionally.

Serve topped with cashews and with rice/quinoa as desired.

What are your 'go to' ingredients for an easy but enjoyable meal? I confess that sweet potatoes are a firm favourite of mine (vegetable and carbohydrate in one!).

8 comments:

  1. Simple, straightforward, DELICIOUS meals like this always sound good to me! Love the infusion of Caribbean flavor!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Joanne! I need more Caribbean flavours in my life I think.

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  2. Sweet potato and kale are 2 of my favourite foods, so this is good with me!

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  3. What lovely flavours. I've never cooked an onion in apple cider vinegar before - I'll have to try that. I do like a stew with cashews! xx

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    Replies
    1. I use apple cider vinegar quite liberally in my cooking! I like the flavour it gives to the onions here :-)

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  4. looks like a great combination of vegies and colours - I am intrigued at cooking the onion in vinegar - must try a jerk seasoning one day

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    Replies
    1. I definitely recommend jerk seasoning. I really love the mix of flavours it provides, even if it is sometimes quite spicy!

      As for the onion in vinegar, I am quite friendly with vinegar and like the flavour it gives the onion :-)

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