Spiced sweet potato stew

This is perfect for winter. It’s an amazing dish to eat with friends from bowls on the sofa, while you cuddle under a blanket and watch a movie! The mix of sweet potatoes and black beans is nice and hearty, especially when mixed with brown rice. I love stirring coconut yogurt into this as it makes it incredibly creamy.

Credit: Hachette Australia / Clare Winfield

• serves

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  1:10 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 sweet potatoes (600 g)
• 1 red capsicum (pepper) (100 g)
• 2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp miso paste
• salt and pepper
• 400 g can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 200 g bag of spinach
• 250 g coconut yogurt (optional but amazing!)

Instructions

Peel the sweet potatoes, then chop them into very small (about 2cm) pieces. Chop the capsicum  into pieces of the same size, discarding its ribs and seeds.

Place the sweet potatoes and capsicum into a large saucepan with the canned tomatoes and 600ml of boiling water, then bring it all to the boil.

As it boils, add the garlic, chilli powder, cumin, coriander, miso paste, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to a simmer, put the lid on the pan and allow it to cook for about 1 hour, making sure to stir it about every 5 minutes.

Now the sweet potatoes should be soft. Add the black beans to the stew with the spinach and coconut yogurt, if using, and stir well until the spinach has wilted totally. (Or serve the coconut yogurt on top, instead, as we did for the photograph.)

Serve with rice, quinoa or mashed avocado.

Note

• If you don’t have coconut yogurt and you’re OK eating dairy, use Greek yogurt instead; make sure it’s full-fat though as it’s much creamier and thicker, which makes this more delicious.

Recipe from Deliciously Ella Every Day by Ella Woodward (Hachette Australia, $29.99), Photography © Clare Winfield.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.