Jottage from Cambridge: Meals for Rainy Days: Pinto bean chilli and North African squash and chickpea stew

Chickpeas stewing away

Pinto bean chilli

Luckily for my parents I never came home from school one day declaring that I had turned vegetarian, and would never ever be tempted by sausages or bacon again. Growing up surrounded by farms full of plump chickens and cows grazing in lush green fields I can’t imagine the horror they would have felt from such a statement. However, although I have never completely renounced meat, I’ve never been afraid of nut cutlets, and I was over the moon when a large Amazon package arrived containing Hugh’s Veg book (a birthday present from my mother). With this addition to our collection of cookbooks Theo and I have decided to have one vegetarian meal every week. (In fact I was a little tempted to suggest that we both become vegetarian for a month, but this seemed a bit drastic.) I am certain we will save a few pennies as meat seems to be terribly expensive these days. Whenever I go to the supermarket, I am always amazed at the prices – who wants to pay £6 for a small pack of some miserable looking chicken breasts? Also, it seems terribly healthy eating beans and lentils – though I must never tell Theo that I’ve added lentils to anything as he claims he doesn’t like them. Having just read the introduction to Hugh’s Veg book (and made two of the recipes in it) I am in absolute agreement that meat free dishes have what he describes as ‘tastes, scents and textures’ that both ‘tempt and gratify’. 

I thought I would try out a couple of the recipes yesterday as Tristan seemed content crawling about the floor, and the sizzling sounds of onions frying, and smells of turmeric, ginger and cinnamon wafting around the kitchen couldn’t do any harm to his cheerful mood. It was a drizzly day in Cambridge and, looking at my washing outside which has been damp for days, I began to assemble all the ingredients I would need – pots of cumin, ginger, cinnamon, as well as all the vegetables sitting in the bottom of the fridge. I decided to make the Pinto Bean Chilli and African Squash and Chickpea stew. (n.b.  making vege dishes in tandem is very easy, as there are no concerns about knifes, pans and chopping boards becoming contaminated with raw meat and needing to be washed up quickly.) I left out a few ingredients from both recipes: the wine, oregano and coriander from the Pinto Bean Chilli, and the celery and coriander from the stew. However, looking at the variety of colours of the veg and spices in the pans, I was satisfied that both meals would be delicious. 

Tristan had the stew for his dinner (the squash was squashy enough so no blending was necessary) and, although I received a few grudging looks, he ate quite a lot of it. I, meanwhile, decided to try and Pinto Bean Chilli, and put some generous spoonfuls in a tortilla wrap. Although I had soaked the pinto beans overnight they were still a bit hard (they didn’t have any tins of pinto beans in Sainsbury’s), but overall it was a perfect meal. Tonight we are going to try the stew and, as long as I remember not to tell Theo about the lentils, I am sure it is also going to be a success.