Low spoon slow cooker lentil stew

We do this meal every week or two during the winter. Everything goes into the slow cooker overnight, you go to bed, and twelve hours later for lunch there’s a thick, starchy, warming stew that freezes brilliantly. It’s cheap, high in protein and fibre, and depending on your stock it’s vegan. While it takes a little bit of effort (mainly to portion everything up and put away the slow cooker) you get 10 to 12 portions out of it once it is made.

At a glance

Spoons	4 out of 5
Standing time	about 10 to 15 minutes
Hands-off time	10 to 12 hours on low
Washing up	slow cooker pot, some spoons, tupperware
Makes	10 to 12 hearty portions (big slow cooker) or 5 to 6 (small)
Cost per portion	roughly 50 to 60p
Protein per portion	roughly 14 to 17g
Freezes	yes, very well
Vegan	yes, with vegetable stock

If you only use red lentils and split peas, it gets even cheaper. Green lentils are the priciest of the four.

Why it’s low spoon

• No chopping. A bag of frozen onion, carrot and celery base mix does the job of the most tiring prep. Garlic comes from a tube.
• No soaking. Red lentils, green lentils, yellow split peas and pearl barley can all go in dry.
• No browning or stirring. It all goes in at once.
• It forgives you. The quantities don’t need to be precise and it’s very hard to overcook.

Ingredients

Amounts are for a big slow cooker (around 6 litres). For a small one (around 3.5 litres), halve everything.

The base

• about 500g frozen onion, carrot and celery mix (I use Sainsbury’s classic vegetable base mix)
• garlic purée from a tube, to taste (a good squeeze or two)
• whatever extra veg is hanging around in the fridge or freezer; frozen spinach is great

The bulk

About 700g in total of any mix of:

• red split lentils
• green lentils
• yellow split peas
• pearl barley

The liquid

• 1 to 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• vegetable stock, enough to cover generously (around 2.5 litres), topped up if you need to (just fill it to the brim and you’ll be fine)

Spices

Be generous: it’s a lot of soup.

• cumin
• mustard powder
• smoked paprika
• cayenne pepper

Then add whatever else you enjoy, plus any herbs you like and a couple of bay leaves.

Method

1. Tip everything into the slow cooker: veg, garlic, pulses, tomatoes and spices.
2. Pour in the stock until everything is well covered, give it a single stir and put the lid on. To save washing up an extra jug, add the stock powder to the slow cooker directly, then pour in boiling water.
3. Cook on low for 10 to 12 hours. If you’re around, check once or twice and top up with stock or water if it’s looking dry, but it’ll be fine.
4. It’s ready when it’s gone gloopy, starchy and stewy and you can’t pick out individual lentils any more. Fish out the bay leaves.
5. Serve with toast, bread and butter, or just on its own.

Freezing and reheating

Let it cool, then portion into tubs or freezer bags and freeze. Reheat from frozen in the microwave or a pan until it’s piping hot all the way through, adding a splash of water if you need to.

A note on salt

Almost all the salt comes from the stock. If you’ve been advised to increase your salt intake for POTS, that’s arguably a bonus and you can add more. I love some sea salt with my toasted bread and butter. If you haven’t, or you need to limit salt, use a reduced or very low salt stock and season to taste at the end.

Things to know

• Gluten: pearl barley contains gluten. Leave it out and use more lentils or split peas if that matters for you.
• Fibre: at around 9 to 11g a portion this is a lot of fibre. If your gut isn’t used to pulses, start with smaller portions.

The figures are rough guides rather than lab measurements, and your batch will vary with what you put in.