Ramla Bay Resort executive chef Christian Borg presents another recipe from the hotel’s recent Great Vegan & Vegetarian Event, which served a vast range of exclusively vegan and vegetarian dishes.

Pumpkin and Bean Stew (Vegan/Gluten Free)

Serves 4

Capsicum Coulis

2pc Red capsicums
6pc Large tomatoes
1pc Medium onion
3pc Garlic cloves
1pc Celery stalk
Fresh red chilli (or ground cayenne pepper) to taste
1ltr Vegetable stock
200ml White wine

Deseed the capsicums and cut all vegetables into cubes.  Start by frying off the onions, when it’s nicely caramelised add the rest of the ingredients and continue to sear until everything in nicely cooked.  Add the white wine and reduce by half, then add the vegetable stock and simmer on medium power for about 30 minutes while making sure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. When finished leave on the side until it’s cold enough to liquidise everything in a high-power blender and blend until you get a smooth sauce. (If the taste is a bit sharp you can either add a bit of sugar to the sauce or else for a healthier version pour gently some olive oil while the blender is still running to incorporate in the sauce)

Hummus

250g Chick peas (soaked overnight)
60ml Tahini paste
60ml  Lemon juice
1pc Garlic clove (or more, depending on taste)
½ tsp Ground cumin
Salt to taste
40ml Water
30ml Olive oil

Boil chick peas in salted water for about 40 minutes until they are soft when bitten (unless you want to omit the salt altogether). Rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process and drain well.  Put everything in a blender and blend everything until you get a fine paste. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper.

The stew

100g Chick peas (soaked overnight)
100g Black beans (soaked overnight)
100g Red kidney beans (soaked overnight) Olive oil
1tsp  Fennel seeds
1tsp  Cumin seeds
1pc  Large onions
½pc Leeks
1pc  Celery stick
3pc Garlic cloves
500g Pumpkin
1bunch Fresh coriander
Salt and pepper
2pc Avocado
1tsp Poppy seeds
2pc Fresh lime
4pc Gluten-free wraps (grilled or fried)
Capsicum coulis

Start by boiling both beans and chick peas in salted water for about 40 minutes until they are soft when bitten (unless you want to omit the salt altogether).

In the meantime you can cut all the vegetables into cubes. Start by frying in a bit of olive oil the cumin seeds and the fennel seeds until they start popping in the pan and give our their aromas.

Then add the onions, leeks and celery and keep cooking until the onion has taken a nice caramelised colour. Then add the pumpkin and the  garlic and cook on a medium heat for about five minutes.

Add the capsicum coulis to the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes until everything is bound together nicely (Don’t add all the sauce from the above recipe as this will be too much and won’t have a good consistency). Check the taste for salt and pepper and finally add the freshly chopped coriander leaves and a squeeze of fresh lime.

To plate the dish, you will need a deep plate to put the stew in together with a small bowl to serve the hummus. Peel the fresh avocado at the end and brush a bit of olive oil to it so it doesn’t discolour, then sprinkle with poppy seeds for a nice effect.

You can serve this together with the gluten-free wraps which can also be replaced with any other type of bread of your choice.