Just the recipe I needed to find on a dreary, rainy Autumn day whilst my husband was out.   I lit the log-burner, had 60s music blasting out of my Echo and I was in heaven.

I had to adapt the recipe to cater for what was in my cupboard but the end result was absolutely delicious.  The original recipe called for fresh coriander which I didn’t have.  It also suggested using peanut butter.  As I had almond butter I sprinkled the finished stew with toasted almond flakes and the nutty crunch was perfect.

I increased the quantities slightly from the original so that we had plenty of stew and enough left over for lunch the following day.    I thought the taste would be quite mild but was pleasantly surprised how ‘warm’ the stew was.  Possibly I added slightly more cayenne!

INGREDIENTS:  to serve 4

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon+ mild curry paste (I used a Korma)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 ½ cups good quality stock (I used chicken stock)
2 x 14oz cans chopped tomatoes
2 cups+ button mushrooms
1 bag baby spinach leaves, chopped slightly
3 tablespoons almond butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Toasted flaked almonds

METHOD:

Gently saute onion, garlic, ginger and cayenne in the olive oil for 10 minutes.

Add the curry paste, stir well and cook for a further 1 minute.

Stir in the sweet potato and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil.   Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are just tender.

Simmer for about 20 minutes

Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Stir in the spinach.

Mix the almond butter with a little of the hot liquid in a small bowl and then add back into the stew.   Stir well and season to taste.   

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

Ladle into bowls

Sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds.

I served my stew with a few slices of my homemade flaxseed focaccia. A perfect combination.

Recipe adapted from Hugh Jackman’s African Sweet Potato Stew.

Nb: All photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared and served myself.