Smoky Sweet Potato & Bean Stew

Ingredients

• 900g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 400ml hot vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 x 400g tins black beans, drained and rinsed
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• 2 red peppers, diced
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 onions, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tbsp chipotle paste
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 15g coriander, roughly chopped
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Warm the oil in a large heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Add the sweet potato in a single layer — don't crowd the pan, or they'll steam instead of catch — and cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the edges are bronzed and a little sticky. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Drop the onion into the same pan with a generous pinch of salt and cook for 8 minutes until soft, translucent, and just starting to catch at the edges. The salt pulls moisture out and stops the onions colouring too fast.
3. Stir in the sliced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant — no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole stew bitter, so watch it and move on the moment it smells sweet.
4. Add the smoked paprika, cumin, ground coriander, and sugar, and bloom the spices in the oil for 60 seconds until the pan smells toasty and warm. Raw spices taste dusty; bloomed spices taste of themselves, and this is where the smoky backbone of the stew is built.
5. Tip in the chopped tomatoes along with the vegetable stock, red lentils, and grated carrot. The stock breaks the tomatoes down so they taste of jammy fruit rather than heated tin. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring well, then return the sweet potato to the pan.
6. Cook gently for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so the lentils don't catch on the base, until the sweet potato is tender to a knife tip and the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
7. Fold in the kidney beans and butter beans and simmer for 5 minutes to heat through. The stew should be thick, smoky, and deeply red — if it looks tight, loosen with a splash of stock or water.
8. Add the kale, push it down into the sauce, and cook for a further 3 to 4 minutes until just tender but still bright green. Taste, season with salt and pepper, then add a squeeze of lemon to lift the smoke and the sweetness — taste again and adjust now, not at the table.
9. To batch: cool completely, then refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze in portions. The smoke deepens overnight, which suits batch cooking. Reheat until piping hot, adding a splash of water if needed.
10. Ladle into bowls, scatter the chopped parsley generously over the top, tuck a wedge of lemon alongside, and serve with crusty sourdough bread for mopping.