Winter Comforts with Mung Beans, Potatoes & Cabbage Stew
This simple, cosy stew is all you need!
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It’s Monday after half-term break here in the UK.
Me and the boys had a lovely week at home together, trying to make the most of what we knew would be a very short week (it always is).
We made the most of outdoors (when weather allowed), baked, watched movies, saw friends and even though it wasn’t just pure bliss (oh no) it came pretty close.
As for the food, this one pot mung bean stew was one of my dinner offerings last week and I thought I would tempt you to try it.
I’ve discovered mung beans couple of years ago and fell in love pretty much immediately.
I’m usually a creature of habit when it comes to beans and stick to same usual suspects most of the time but I’m really glad I’ve decided to venture out and try them out. This simple stew has been on our regular recipe rotation throughout colder months since and we all love it.
It might not be a looker (stews hardly ever are) but it tastes amazing and it does make you feel nourished and almost blanketed with goodness. What’s not to like!
Few Recipe Notes
Mung Beans are amazing little gems. Technically, they don’t require soaking but if you’d like for your stew to cook in under an hour I would definitely recommend it plus they’re gentler on the stomach too (less farty lol).
I usually put them to soak when I come down to the kitchen in the morning and let them sit in water until around 5pm when I start on dinner.
This stew gets even better the following day but it would have also thickened quite a bit upon cooling. If you have any coconut milk leftover you might want to add it as you reheat the stew to loosen it a bit. Alternatively, you can use more veggie stock, water or some plant milk too.
About fresh ginger:
Use organic ginger if you can, then you won’t have to peel it.
Keep it in the freezer and grate from frozen - so much easier.
If using non-organic ginger, definitely peel it but do it with the back of the spoon to get to all those nooks and crannies. So much easier than using a knife.
Feel free to swap veg here. You might want to use sweet potatoes instead of regular ones or maybe some squash, celeriac or swede (wintery selection of root veggies knows no limit). Red cabbage can be substituted with any cabbage you’ve got, kale, spring greens etc. This stew can be completely different every time you make it!
You can get mung beans in most supermarkets, just search World Foods aisles. I get mine with all my bulk ingredients from Buy Wholefoods Online (not affiliated but have been using them for years and highly recommend).
Mung Beans, Potatoes and Cabbage Stew
Serves: 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes + Soaking Time
Cook time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
500g mung beans (soaked for a few hours if you can), drained and rinsed
3 medium sized potatoes (peeled and cut into chunks)
1/2 red cabbage (shredded)
1 onion (peeled and roughly chopped)
1 leek (both green and white part, cleaned and thinly sliced)
1-2 celery sticks (roughly chopped)
4 garlic cloves (peeled and minced, grated or finely chopped)
Thumb size piece of ginger (grated)
1 tsp ground turmeric or grate some fresh one if you’ve got it
2 heaped tsp ground cumin
2 heaped tsp ground coriander
2 heaped tsp smoked paprika
1 heaped tsp your favourite curry powder
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 heaped tsp of tomato puree
1.2 ltr vegetable stock (+ potentially more)
1/2 can (or as much as you want) coconut milk
Lime/lemon juice for a bit of zing
Salt/pepper to taste
Fresh coriander/cilantro
Olive oil
Instructions:
Heat up couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan with a lid, add sliced leek, onion, garlic, ginger and celery and fry until softened but not coloured.
Make sure you keep stirring to prevent veg from catching and burning. Feel free to add a splash of water to help things along once oil is gone.Next, add spices and tomato puree, stir them in and fry for couple of minutes until they release their lovely aroma.
Add tinned tomatoes, rinse the tin with a splash of water and add that as well (it’s all flavour baby).
Now you are ready to add mung beans and potatoes, followed immediately with veggie stock. Give it all a good stir, bring to boil and then cover with a lid and cook on medium low heat for about about 20 minutes stirring now and again. Stew should be getting thicker now.
Add shredded red cabbage, mix it in and continue simmering the stew on low heat until beans and potatoes are tender adding more stock or water if need be.
Towards the end of cooking I like to add about half a tin of coconut milk for that extra creaminess and also to adjust consistency to your liking (add more if you prefer more soupy stew).
Give stew a taste and adjust seasoning. The amount of salt will depend on the saltiness of your stock as well as your tastebuds.
Last but not least, I like to add some lime or lemon juice for a bit of acidity as well as stir in some fresh coriander/cilantro.
Enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this gorgeous bowl of comfort.
Do let me know if you make it, share your tweaks and adaptations (if any), would love to hear from you in the comment below.
Until next time!
