vegetables | pepper paprikash
Serves 4, if served with rice and/or vegetables
I acquired the basis for this delicious recipe from a friend's mum as a student years ago. Because most students lived on bare essentials, it was an easy but impressive dish to make if anyone equally as dishy was coming to dinner! Now it's just an easy dish to throw in the oven at weekends. I say weekends because although it's quick to make, it does need 1 ½ hours cooking time in the oven, so, if you arrive home late, you may not have time. BUT, it can easily be reheated if you have made it the day before.
Wheat free, dairy free, nut free, meat free version...
Ingredients...
- 1 roughly chopped onion
- ½ chopped red pepper
- 6 tsp sun dried tomato paste or 2 tbsp tomato puree (I use tsp for the sun dried tomato paste because I can't get a tbsp in the jars I use!)
- 2 tbsp paprika (smoked paprika is lovely in
this dish, but not as easily available)
- ½ chopped orange pepper
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
(or you can use the equivalent
amount of peeled, de-seeded fresh ones)
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ chopped yellow pepper
- 3 chopped carrots
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 fresh bay leaf (or 2 dried)
- Generous amount of salt to balance out the paprika
- 3 finely chopped sticks of celery
- ½ pint water
Optional:
- A slug of wine and tip tsp cayenne pepper
- A few tbsp of soya yoghurt to garnish
- 1 spring onion or few chives, finely chopped
Method...
- Heat the oven to 170°C.
- In a saucepan, sauté the onions in the oil for about 5 minutes, whilst you chop the garlic.
- Add the garlic and just keep giving it a little stir whilst you chop the celery.
- Add the celery and keep stirring whilst you chop the carrots.
- Add the carrots and give the odd stir whilst you chop pepper.
- Add peppers and stir a few times whilst you open the can of tomatoes.
- Stir in the 2 tbsp of paprika until it is well distributed and coats all the vegetables.
- Add the water and tomato paste and stir well. Add the wine now, if you are using it.
- Boil for 10 minutes, then stir in the chopped tomatoes and turn the mixture into an oven proof dish.
- Hide the bay leaf in the middle, cover with foil and put in the oven.
- Cook for 45 minutes with foil on.
- After 45 minutes, take foil off, give a little stir and leave for another 45 minutes.
- Add the salt to taste and serve into dishes with a good dollop of yoghurt and a sprinkling of the spring onions or chives.
Maybe serve with...
This is delicious with any kind of rice,
zingy mashed potatoes, new potatoes or jacket potatoes. If you're really pushing the boat out, you could make some duchesse potatoes and bake them at the same time. It is lovely with additional vegetables if you need to make it stretch further, but equally, it's packed full of them.
For those able to eat wheat...
This is delicious served with toasted wholemeal pittas to dip into the sauce or chunks of ripped French stick.
If you have paprika and tomatoes left, try the sublime tomato soup.
Copyright ©2005-2009 Dame Fandango Healthy Vegan Recipes
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