Vegan Barbecue Lentil Stew
This recipe is a good substitute for Brunswick stew. If you happen to know some vegans, I’m convinced that just one taste of this stew will turn them into willing slaves. It manages to be extremely filling while containing relatively few calories, making it a dieter’s dream. Who knew that Southern comfort food could be vegan?
Ingredients
- 30 ml of canola oil
- 1 Vidalia (or other sweet) onion
- 227 g mushrooms
- 1-2 cloves of smashed or chopped garlic
- 2 cans of cubed tomatoes, drained
- 250 ml of sweet barbecue sauce (Sonny’s is my favorite)
- 15-30 ml of Tobasco Chipotle hot sauce
- 15 ml of apple cider vinegar
- 60 ml of ketchup
- 100 g of brown sugar
- Cayenne pepper, to taste
- 400 g lentils
- 1.25-1.5 L of water
Procedure
- Heat canola oil and sautee the onions over medium-high heat until they brown significantly.
- Reduce heat to medium and add mushrooms and garlic to the pan. Cook until the mushrooms reduce in volume by about half (about ten minutes or so).
- Reduce heat to low. Add canned tomatoes, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, ketchup, cayenne pepper, vinegar, and brown sugar. Stir until all ingredients are mixed together more or less uniformly. Give your sauce a taste. It should taste effing sexy. Need more heat? Hit it with some more cayenne pepper. Need more sweetness? Add more brown sugar. Too sweet? Cut it with some more vinegar. Basically, make it taste so amazing that you’re tempted to forget the legumes and just eat what’s in the pan.
- Stir in the lentils to evenly distribute them. Add about a liter of water. Cover and simmer for a while, checking in every fifteen minutes or so. If you need more water, add more in 250 ml increments. Cook until the lentils are falling apart and tender. This will take a while due to the acidic and salty environment in your pot. You can’t rush amazing food.
- Enjoy either straight up or with some brown rice.
Possible Improvisations
- Consider adding some thawed frozen corn to the pot before you start your long slow simmer.
- Leave the long slow simmering to a crock pot. Just keep an eye on the water level since different beans take different amounts of water.