Bean and mushroom cottage pie -vegan

This is the first recipe since my new kitchen was finished. Well, it’s not quite finished. I still need to paint some of the walls but all the functional stuff is in place. I still haven’t got everything back in the cupboards. We’ve got more storage than before but I don’t know how it will all fit in.

As it’s January and getting quite cold, I’ve decided to do a vegan variant of a cottage pie. Using the same herbs as a beef one only with beans and mushrooms instead. I would’ve used some carrots too except I didn’t have any.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1kg sweet potato
50g plant based margarine
200g dried pinto beans
100g dried black turtle beans
75g red lentils
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 bay leaves
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp tomato puree
400g chopped tomatoes
700ml vegetable stock
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Method

Rinse the beans an place in a large pan with 1.5-2 litres of water. Bring to the boil cover and boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 60 minutes then drain and rinse.
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions, celery, pepper, garlic, oregano, thyme and bay leaves. Cover and cook gently for 10 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and cook, covered, for another 5 minute.
Add the paprika, tomatoes, cooked beans, uncooked red lentils, stock and tomato puree, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp ground black pepper. Cover and cook on a low heat for 45 minutes.
Whilst that’s cooking. Peel and roughly chop the sweet potatoes. They should be about 2.5cm/1″ chunks.
Cover them with water, bring to the boil, cover the pan and boil for 20 minutes until soft.
Pre-heat the over to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 (180°C fan).
Drain the sweet potatoes, mash them. Stir in the margarine and 1 tsp salt.
Put the bean and mushroom mixture into a casserole dish, top with the mashed sweet potato and bake for 20 minutes.