Spicy Black Bean and Pumpkin Stew

Halloween and All Saint's Day (La Toussaint) is a big event here in France and it has been for a long time, probably as big as in North America. We remember being in Paris with our kidlets many years ago over Halloween and seeing lots of decorated places and kids dressed up, which we didn't really see much of in the UK at the time.
Our hotel overlooked one of the city's large cemeteries and on November 1st, we woke up to an incredible sight - the cemetery was absolutely buzzing with people bearing flowers and gifts...it was fascinating for us all to see and experience. 

 At the moment, we are house and kitty sitting in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of France and there is much activity in the cemetery of this rural village this week, as families honour their dead loved ones.

Today has been a quiet day for us, we are happy to stay away from the Halloween celebrations and instead just enjoy the peace of this lovely house, cuddle lots of kitties, feast and relax.

We have been asked if we would share some ideas for one pot meals and as we have the time, as well as the space of a lovely large vegetarian kitchen we thought we would share this simple recipe.

As always, we travel with our own pans and utensils...

In the pan is 2 chopped onions and a knob of fresh chopped turmeric.

Approximately 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (which we use mixed with water instead of oil).

A scant teaspoon of dried seaweed and an assortment of spices...cumin, chilli and smoked paprika.

Fresh garlic ready for chopping (we do use lots), this gets chucked into the pan with the onions, etc.

We decided to lightly steam some potatoes... 

And carrots too. 

Steaming them first means we can keep them fairly chunky.

We steamed the potatoes for 5 minutes and then added the carrots for another 5 minutes, then put them aside...keeping the water from the steamer pan.

We diced up some pumpkin to go into the pan...

Then put it on the heat to fry, adding water from the steamer pan as needed.

We fry for around 10 minutes, them chuck in chopped courgette and mushrooms and continue to fry for another 10 minutes, adding more steamer pan water.

Add the potatoes and carrots, again continue on the heat until the pumpkin is fairly soft.

Add beans...
We have used tinned black beans, warm through - we turn the heat down and let it cook through slowly.

Add seasoning, we added a teaspoon of miso paste and some crushed black pepper.

The stew is nice with rice or crusty bread...we've had basmati rice cooked with turmeric.

We always make a pan full and find it's even tastier the next day!

Wishing you all a cosy and peaceful evening!

Love Kay and Sime xx