I’ve been completely Vegan for 5 weeks now, and I’m really enjoying crafting new ideas in the kitchen. I absolutely love the fall, the autumnal colours, the staying in, the hygge, the hot drinks, blankets, books, and all the lovely warm foods. This is a vegan cinnamon supper of dreams.

You don’t even have to like cinnamon spiced lattes, I promise. But you do need to care about yourself and your wellbeing? Is that you? Or are you still on your wellbeing journey? The good news is, it should be a journey! I’m still on my wellbeing journey, and I hope I always will be.

It’s all very easy like most of my recipes, bearing in mind I am not a cook, or a chef, although I have taken some lessons in the past. I love tinkering in the kitchen, and there’s a lot more failures than there are successes as my husband will attest to.

This recipe came to be on the 1st September as I took my glittery pumpkins out of storage, yes we are that family! Don’t you just love to be surrounded by the colour orange in Autumn? It’s the colour of peace and tranquillity according to Buddhists, hence why they choose to wear it.

Get your base of onions, roasted veg, tomatoes canned and puree, and your spices, and you are set for pretty much anything good to come out of your kitchen. I have started to use ground garlic powder, and more ground spices in general, but seek them out from your local cultural stores rather than the supermarkets, you get much more for your buck and it feels a lot more authentic. Plus, you’re helping a local business in your community.

I added in a stash of water, a whole can, and it still came out super rich and indulgent, so if you wanted to get more sauce, you could easily add more water, it would still be acceptably thick.

My daughter made some focaccia at the same time, so this was a HUGE treat to have with this stew. Warm, salty, and fresh outta the oven – blissful!

Recipe:

2 red onion, chopped.

Various seasonal root veg, I used parsnips, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic (still in the skin), courgettes, but go with whatever you have, and with what you enjoy! Aubergine would work well here too.

2 x cans of chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons garam masala

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Cumin

Method:

Heat oven to 180, chop and pop veg in a big roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garam masala, cumin and cinnamon. Cooked for 30 mins.

Give your time to chop the onions, maybe have a sip of water, or a tea, why not. Then heat some oil in a pan, pop in the chopped onion, and sauté on low, I have discovered this is a better way to work with onions, I used to have them higher, and dodge the pan spitting at me when I stirred them, but now it’s all a lot more cool between us. They will maybe need about 15 minutes, worth it though.

Add your garam masala, cinnamon, cumin, tomato puree, give everything a good stir. Add a stock cube, I added a jelly style one, but a cube would do. Add the tomatoes, then add the roasted veg, give everything a good stir, and check that the veg is covered enough to bubble away, still cooking the bits not cooked through. Add your water to your desired taste and consistency. It’s all about you remember!

Let simmer away happily while you pop on some rice, heat some bread, and when 20 minutes has passed or if you can wait the 10 minutes longer, I couldn’t, serve up!

Oh gosh, I hope you enjoy this stew, and I hope you put your own twist on it. Please let me know if you do!!