From River Cottage veg every day . . . .

. . . North African squash and chickpea stew.



This looks so delicious I've been really looking forward to giving it a go. First I gathered my ingredients together, I more or less followed the recipe, but I didn't have any tumeric, so I just went without, I used dried chickpeas (soaked overnight in cold water then boiled fiercely for 10 minutes) instead of tinned, I used plain water instead of vegetable stock and I added a tin of chopped tomatoes in place of passata.



The recipe is as follows. Heat 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in a large saucepan, add 2 large (I used 3 medium red) onions, chopped, and saute until just starting to turn golden brown.



Add the garlic (I used puree), celery, pepper, tumeric, cinnamon and ginger, saute for a couple of minutes.



Now add the lentils, chickpeas, saffron, passata, parsley and coriander.



Cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes.



Meanwhile, peel and deseed the squash or punpkin and cut into large cubes.



Add to the pan with the stock and bay leaf. Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.



At this stage the recipe suggests that you add some vermicelli, orzo or other small pasta, however I decided to leave that option out and just simmered for another 15 minutes or so, then served with a bread roll. It was, I can assure you, as delicious as it looks, and pretty healthy too.