Don’t get confused between soup and stew. There is a slight difference between them. What is a stew? Stewing is a process where large cut vegetables or meat or beans is cooked low and slow. Basically you simmer the ingredients in water or stock simmering on low temperature for a longer time. The water/ stock reduces considerably forming a nice gravy like consistency. Slow cooking deepens the flavor too. You may say it is more curry like. You know how much I love curries right? I feel the only difference between a stew and a curry is the use of curry powder especially turmeric.
My mom says “Eat your vegetables because it’s good for you. Add loads of beans to it and make it nutrition dense. Consuming beans is a great way to combat those in between meals hunger pangs. “And this combination of vegetables and beans really does the magic. I love making this vegetarian stew because it’s so flexible on ingredients. Just pick and choose your favorite seasonal veggies, your choice of beans, few spices and simmer it all together. Don’t even bother to cut vegetables with precision. Huge chunks are absolutely fine. Just throw everything in your pot and let it simmer on low flame.
Today’s healthy vegan stew recipe is so easy to put together. Stew makes a great one pot meal. Making stew in Instant Pot just requires 10 minutes of preparation time. It is completely hands off process once you put everything in the pot. No monitoring or stirring needed. You can make stew in a slow cooker but it takes way too long to cook. Dutch oven is a great hands-off choice to make any kind of stew too.
Ingredients of vegan stew
The main reason behind making this stew is to use Swiss Chard. I had bought loads of it. You may use your choice of greens like spinach, kale or collard greens. To keep it simple and comforting I have used vegetables like sweet potato, potatoes, onion and loads of garlic. You may use carrots, radish, peas, pumpkin, bell peppers. Do not use cauliflower or broccoli if making this stew in Instant Pot as it will turn into a mush. I have used canned fire roasted tomatoes. Guys I am so obsessed with the fire roasted variety as it instantly adds so much depth to the stew as if it was simmering all day. But feel free to use crushed tomatoes instead. To make it more filling I have used previously cooked chickpeas. You may used canned ones too. Northern beans tastes great too. On spices front I have used salt, pepper, combination of smoked paprika and cayenne plus some garam masala (not curry powder). I like how heart warming the stew gets with garam masala. You may skip it if only it is unavailable or sub it with all spice. Ok let’s get to my favorite ingredient in making this stew. It’s peanut butter!! Guys I may sound crazy but this stew tastes so rich and good with peanut butter. Please try it. If you have nut allergy or do not like peanut butter you may leave it. Towards the end I have used a generous squeeze of fresh lemon and chopped cilantro. Because oh well!! I love to add fresh herbs to everything.
How to make Vegetarian Stew in the Instant Pot?
I have used pot in pot (PIP) method simply because I wanted to cook rice and the stew at the same time. You can just cook stew in the pot and eat it as is or pair it with grain / bread of your choice. What I have done is put all ingredients needed for the stew in m Instant Pot.
Placed a long leg trivet on top. Then I kept a container with uncooked rice rinsed 3 times and filled with Fresh water and a pinch of salt. I have cooked it on rice setting i.e Low Pressure for 12 minutes NPR. Stew and fluffy rice is ready with only 10 minute preparation time.
I could have done Manual High Pressure 3 minutes NPR but as it is a stew that we are making I love cooking it on a low setting for the flavor to meld.
I have used my 6qt Instant Pot Duo (IP) to make this recipe. Pin this recipe for later reference –
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