A simple Irish stew full of flavourful winter vegetables and lentils in a rich gravy made in a slow cooker.
Comforting stew
You can't beat a comforting bowl of stew in the winter months when your body is craving comfort food and this Irish stew ticks all the boxes.
A traditional Irish stew is made with lamb or beef, potatoes and lots of winter vegetables. In place of the meat I have used lentils for the protein and added texture.
It's rich and comforting with a tasty gravy. Serve it with mashed potatoes or just crusty bread for the perfect weekend dinner.
Apologies for the photos, they are a bit dark and grainy. We don't have much daylight in Scotland at the moment, so it is always a fight against the clock and the dark, however I think they will give you a good idea of what to expect.
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Adding beer to stew
I made the gravy in this stew by adding beer, vegetable stock cubes, spices an tomato puree to the vegetables and lentils in this stew.
You could add either a lager or beer to a stew like this.
You may remember I added a light beer to my vegan sausage birra, which was also made in the slow cooker.
Both work and add a lot of extra flavour to a casserole.
Beer as an ingredient
Beer is also handy to have in the kitchen (apart from slurping) for beer batter, which I used in my beer battered mushrooms and chip shop battered tofu or for making quick no-knead bread like my cheddar and dill beer bread (you could also use vegan cheddar).
Leftover beer
I have a tasty tip for you.
If you have leftover beer after making this stew, add some raspberry syrup to the beer for a quick and tasty co*cktail. It's a drink that's popular in Poland and I love it.
Look in the Polish aisle of your supermarket for the syrup.
The syrup tastes so good with beer or lager. It was my friend Margot over at Coffee and Vanilla who tipped me off about it. You can read more about the Polish Style Beer with Raspberry on her blog.
also try
Slow cooker dump recipes
This is a slow cooker dump recipe. A recipe where you just 'dump' the ingredients into the slow cooker, turn it on and walk away.
You don't need to pre-cook or saute anything, just throw it all in, hit the switch and go.
My slow cooker has all sorts of settings like saute, roast and steam, but I still like recipes like this one that are super-easy with little effort apart from some chopping.
On Christmas day I made my carrot and coriander soupas a starter in my slow cooker, but as I wanted to cook it quicker, I used the saute setting and cooked the soup that way, just like the cooker top without a lid, just stirring it occasionally. It freed up space on my cooker, which was handy.
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Related -Slow Cooker Pizza Potatoes
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Slow living
I'm still working on this.
I feel my life is too stretched and hectic, which leaves me stressed and tired.
I need to be more organised and slow down. Enjoy some slow living with quality time off. Slow cooking is a part of this. Being more organised, but spending less time in the kitchen after work.
As I said it's a work in progress.
12 Slow living tips
- Be more organised and expend less energy.
- Try and be less distracted by social media.
- Spend more time with family and less time working (work smart and to schedule).
- Build in quiet time to read or have a bubble bath.
- Plan meals ahead and set them to cook saving time later.
- Do a little housework each day so day's off are less like a full day of work (housework) and more about free time.
- Have a spring clean, the mind feels more relaxed when your surroundings are less cluttered.
- Be frugal, use up what is in the fridge or cupboard and buy what you need and not to excess, this extends to other purchases too.
- Remembering you can't change other people, they are on their own life journey. Don't let other people influence how you feel or act.
- Spend time with and appreciate family and friends.
- Drink lots of water.
- Try wind down and get to bed earlier for better quality sleep.
It takes work but it makes sense and will make life easier and happier once I master it.
Do you try to follow many of these points?
Try next -Slow Cooker Scottish Stovies
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Nutrition and calories
Fat free stew
This stew is fat free and low in calories.
The onions and garlic are not sauteed in oil before they are added to the slow cooker, so that removes fat from the recipe. There are very low traces of it, perhaps in the stock cubes.
Low calorie stew
This stew is only 226 calories when divided into 6 generous portions or 170 calories when divided into 8 standard portions.
Of course you will need to add extra calories if you serve this with mashed potatoes or crusty bread, but it is still a really low calorie and nutritious meal.
Perfect for low calorie diets like the 5:2 diet.
5:2 Diet
The 5:2 diet, which is also called the fast diet is an intermittent diet where you eat normally for 5 days a week and reduced calories for 2 days a week.
The original 5:2 diet allowed 600 calories for men and 500 calories for women on a fast day.
The updated fast diet allows 800 calories for men and women, you just tweak the timescale of each fast day.
This type of diet is said to (by scientists) give the body a chance to repair and protect against diseases and illness.
When the body is fasting the cell generation slows down production and repairs cells instead. You can read more about it on my 5:2 diet page where I have links to articles and recipes.
Nutrients in Vegan Irish Stew
Vitamin C
This stew is high in vitamin C, which helps protect cells, maintains healthy skin, blood vessels, bones and cartilage. It also helps wounds to heal.
Vitamin A
This stew is high in vitamin A which is important for good vision, immune system and reproduction. It also helps the lungs, heart, kidneys and other organs work properly.
Dietary Fibre
This stew is high in dietary fibre which keeps the digestive system healthy and slows the rate that sugar is absorbed into the blood stream, which keeps our blood sugar from surging.
Potassium
There is also a good source of potassium in this stew which helps to regulate blood pressure, reduces water retention and protects the kidneys.
This stew is also a source of calcium and iron.
Irish stew, slow cooker recipe, slow cooker stew, crockpot recipe, crockpot stew, vegan stew, vegan slow cooker recipe, vegetarian slow cooker recipe, vegetable stew, lentil stew, vegetable casserole, 5:2 diet recipe, low calorie stew, fat free stew, diet stew
dinner
Irish, British, vegan, fat-free
Yield: 6-8Author: Jacqueline Meldrum
Slow Cooker Vegan Irish Stew
A simple Irish stew full of flavourful winter vegetables and lentils in a rich gravy made in a slow cooker.
prep time: 10 minscook time: 6 hourtotal time: 6 hours and 10 mins
ingredients
- 4 medium potatoes, cut into large pieces
- 3 medium red onions, cut in half and into wedges
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
- 5 medium carrots, cut into thick slices
- 400g can of green lentils (265g when drained)
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 3 vegetable stock cubes (to crumble in)
- 2 heaped tbsp tomato puree
- 500ml/2 cups beer
- a good grinding of salt and pepper
instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker pot.
- Season well with salt and pepper.
- Stir well and set to high for 6 hours or low for 8 hours.
- Serve with mashed potatoes or crusty bread.
- Enjoy!
NOTES:
This can also be cooked in a pot or casserole dish on the cooker top or in the oven. The cooking time is 30-40 minutes. You may need to add a little more liquid, hot water or stock can be added.
calories
226
fat (grams)
0.8
sat. fat (grams)
0.1
carbs (grams)
42
protein (grams)
7
sugar (grams)
7
Created using The Recipes Generator
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