Recipe: Mushroom and Chickpea Stew

This recipe is so warming and hearty, perfect for a chilly winter evening. As winter arrives, vata or air element becomes dominant in our environment, so choosing opposite qualities such as warmth and unctuous helps ground the vata. It’s full of warming spices, garlic, chickpeas, mushrooms, lemon juice and carrots which simmer in a beautiful coriander infused tomato sauce. I love serving this with quinoa or brown rice to make it extra satisfying but it’s delicious just on it’s own too as it’s bursting with flavour!

Serves 6

– Ghee

-- 8 carrots

– 3 boxes of mushrooms (about 30 mushrooms/850g)

– 3 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

– 2 400g tins of chickpeas

– 600ml of boiling water

– 7 tablespoons of tomato puree

– a big handful of coriander, about 50g

– 2 lemons plus 3 more to serve

– 4 teaspoons of turmeric

– 4 teaspoons of cumin power

– 3 teaspoons of ground chilli

– 3 cloves of garlic

Start by peeling the carrots, then chop them into pieces. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices.

Place the crushed garlic, turmeric, cumin, chilli, salt and pepper into a large saucepan along with 4 tablespoons of Ghee. Allow this to heat until it’s bubbling, then pour in the tins of tomatoes, tomato puree and boiling water. Then stir in the chopped carrots and mushrooms. Bring this mix to the boil then turn it down to a simmer.

Let this cook for about thirty minutes, then stir in the chickpeas (drain the tin first) and the finely chopped coriander. Let this cook for another twenty minutes, at which point the mushrooms and carrots should be soft and ready to eat. If you’re making quinoa then cook this when you put the chickpeas in.

Once everything is ready squeeze the two lemons into the mix and place the stew into bowls with the quinoa. I like serving each bowl with half a lemon and an extra sprinkling of coriander.