This amazing Vegan Curried Jamaican Stew is full of intense flavor, hearty texture and healthy plants. This stew features traditional Jamaican seasonings, including red pepper flakes, allspice and cloves, as well as a generous swirl of coconut milk.
VEGAN CURRIED JAMAICAN STEW
Sometimes a cookbook comes along that completely knocks my socks off. A book that you want to cuddle with, hold, sleep with, never let go. This is one of those times. I have been sent many cookbooks to review over the years and I’m not kidding when I say this is already one of my favorites. This cookbook, Power Plates, 100 nutritionally balanced, one-dish vegan meals, by Gena Hamshaw is incredible. Gena is the author of The Full Helping blog.
I have never made one of Gena’s recipes before, so flipping through her book I was thrilled at all the amazing, mouth-watering recipes she has. Honestly, her creativity is so refreshing and so unique. Truly some of the most creative plant-based recipes I’ve come across since becoming vegan years ago. Not your typical run-of-the-mill recipes.
Her use of ingredients and flavor combos are for those who LOVE true flavor. That is me. I’m not one for bland or light flavors. Bring on food to make my eyes roll in the back of my head please. Her book definitely delivers.
Her book has 6 main chapters and they are packed full.
- Breakfast
- Salads
- Soups
- Bowls
- Skillets and Stovetop
- Bakes
There is not a dessert chapter in this book, it’s all savory pretty much, although she does have a muffin recipe and some granola and a couple of sweeter things in the breakfast chapter. Just not a dedicated dessert chapter. But the amazing savory recipes are fantastic enough that I didn’t care. That is saying a lot coming from a baker fanatic.
POWER PLATES COOKBOOK
The pictures are stunning, colorful, inviting and make your tummy start growling. A couple of things to note. There is a lot of tofu and tempeh used in the book, so if you are allergic to soy, there are still a lot of recipes without it, but I do think it’s important to mention since there is a decent amount. But she has used them all in such imaginative ways and they are all so different. It is truly amazing.
Her brilliance comes through in this book big time. Recipes like Masala Lentil Salad with Cumin-Roasted Carrots, Spiced Lentil Tamale Pie, Vegetable Harvest Pie, Moroccan Sweet Potatoes, Stuffed Peppers with Farro, Herbs, and Tempeh Sausage, Roasted Zucchini Tacos (what!), White Chili with Butternut Squash. My goodness my mouth is watering.
ABOUT THE RECIPES
The recipes are called 1-dish, but it should be noted that several of the recipes come in parts, like making 2-4 parts to combine into the “1 dish”. This is more apparent in her Bowls chapter. For example, a recipe can call for cooking the veggies, then cooking a grain, then tofu or tempeh and then a sauce. They aren’t all like that and are not hard, but they are more involved than I typically cook so they do require some time. This will not prevent me from making them by any means, I’m just going to make them in parts on different days since I’m such a busy mom with a young child. The flavors are so incredible that I’m so excited to try them all. Her Soups and Breakfast chapters all look really easy though and not too many ingredients, so I started there first.
She does use oil in some of the recipes. This is important to mention since I’m an oil-free cook and this is an oil-free blog and many of you readers are. However, the ones that simply call for oil for cooking on the stove (like this stew) is easy to just swap with water or broth. The sauces and dressings that call for oil will be a bit more challenging, but I plan to test those out with some of my oil-free tricks. Nothing will hold me back from trying all of these amazing recipes! Please do not let that deter you, there are plenty of recipes that don’t use oil and many ways to just omit it when it is in the smaller amounts.
Now, can we please talk about this amazing Curried Jamaican Stew?? O.M.G. I mean, seriously, soooo good that I didn’t want it to end. The flavors were so balanced and so epic and the texture was spot on. I had a little chuckle too, because when I was writing my Soups and Stews chapter for my own book last year, I had jotted down a Jamaican Stew recipe. It has allspice and red pepper flakes in it, but used gold potatoes and was an entirely different recipe. I never got around to perfecting it and I don’t really see the point now since this one is so incredible, haha. Maybe I’ll get back to it one day.
I love that she added collard greens, it was just phenomenal. I don’t buy collard greens much and now I will.
I loved this stew so much that I had it for breakfast the next day with my hashbrowns, haha. Total true story.
Aside from the Jamaican Stew, I also tried her Curried Tomato Stew with Dumplings (above, recipe on page 107) and yet again, another amazing recipe. Can you tell I like curry, haha. Two curry stews but entirely different flavors. Incredible. So much delicious flavor and texture. I can’t wait to eat leftovers for lunch today! Sorry for the iphone pic of this stew, but it was last night when I made it and just wanted to snap a quick pic to share with y’all.
I vow to make a recipe or two weekly from her book until I make every. single. one. That is how excited I am. Did I already mention how creative she is?? Both of these stews were so delicious that I can’t wait to zip through the whole chapter and all of her recipes.
So, please give this amazing stew a try. You will absolutely love it. And again, I can’t recommend her book enough. Especially if you really like deep flavors from different types of cuisines and appreciate creativity.
You can order her book here! And enter the GIVEAWAY below!
Reprinted with permission from Power Plates, copyright © 2018 by Gena Hamshaw. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Curried Jamaican Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (I just used a few tablespoons of water)
- 1 white or yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 jalapeno chile
- 2 tomatoes chopped, or 1 (14.5oz, 411g) can diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 easpoon ground cloves
- 3 cups (540g) cooked kidney beans, or 2 15 oz cans, drained & rinsed
- 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3 cups (710ml) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 small or 1/2 medium bunch collard greens or other greens, stemmed and cut into thin strips
- 1 cup (240ml) full-fat coconut milk
- 1/4 cup (25g) chopped scallions, green and white parts,plus more for topping
Instructions
- Heat the oil (or water) in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the onion is tender and translucent. Add the tomatoes and red curry paste and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until the tomatoes have released their juices and cooked down a bit.
- Stir in the salt, allspice, red pepper flakes, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, beans, and sweet potatoes, then pour in the broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to partially puree the soup so that about half of the sweet potato cubes and kidney beans are still visible and whole, or puree about half of the soup in a standard blender and return it to the pot. Add the collard greens and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the greens have wilted. Stir in the coconut milk and scallions. If the soup is thicker than you'd like, stir in more broth to achieve the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired. Serve with extra chopped scallions.
Notes
Gena has been kind enough to allow me to hold a giveaway for one lucky reader! You must be a US citizen and be subscribed to my blog. (red box on the sidebar) All entries will be verified. Just enter the giveaway below!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’m a sucker for soups and stews. Can’t wait to try 😍
Can’t wait to try all these yummy vegan recipes as I begin a change in my lifestyle to feel healthier and happier.
Can’t wait to try!
We really enjoyed this dish. I was happily surprised at the different flavors..such a nice warm kick. Thank you for reviewing this book. I think it’ll be a fabulous addition I need.
This is delicious! I used 1/2 fat coconut milk and spinach and loved it. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for a great recipe.
Wonderful to hear that Valerie! I agree, so delicious!
Commenting now to enter the giveaway — I’m planning to make this tomorrow or Monday and will let you know how it went!
This was great! I love the diversity of vegetables, and it all makes a super combo that is healthy and hearty. We’ll add it to our rotation for sure. Served it over quinoa and it was gobbled up. I added chopped broccoli shortly after adding the broth (one of the kids LOVES broccoli and wants it in everything — so unlike me as a child!
I think that next time I might also increase the curry paste (it’s a fine line for us between adding flavor and making it too spicy for the kids). We make curry a lot, but this is a totally different twist. Thanks for sharing the recipe, and I hope I can get my hands on this cookbook someday. Looking forward to yours, too!!
I think I probably used slightly more sweet potatoes (5 small/medium) than called for (and the add’l broccoli) but in general I didn’t increase amounts, because it was a trial run. So I was pleasantly surprised (added to the fact that we loved it) that it made a generous amount, enough for the family with leftovers. So many recipes that say “6 servings” turn out to be more like 3 servings for us…and I don’t think we eat unreasonable portion sizes!
Love that you had the leftovers with hash browns! Go girl! This recipe and book look amazing 🙂
Just made this for dinner tonight. It was easy to make even after a long day at work. I used kale instead of collard greens, and it turned out great! I will definitely try it with collards next time since they are one of my favorite greens.
This recipe and this book look terrific!
This book looks amazing with delicious recipes. =)
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
My husband and I love Thai red curry paste, so I know this would be delicious.
I am a recent vegan who is inspired by your recipes. Thanks for your creativity and sharing.
Low key collecting power plates recipes from across the web thanks to Gena’s ig & giveaway collabs. Would be great to finally get a copy!! 😅
I love her blog and this looks so good!
This looks sooooo good! A perfect meal for this perpetual winter we seem to be stuck in.
Anything with curry is a must to make! Making it this weekend!!!!
Yay! Come back and rate it and let me know what you think!
Looking forward to some new flavors in this dish. However, I am wondering if the full-fat coconut milk is a must. Probably another milk would not do, but can light coconut milk work? Just trying to avoid so much saturated fat.
Saw ‘Eating You Alive’ last night. Wow! Glad you were in there with the ‘gurus.’ Congratulations. I was wondering if you could repeat the name of your recipe so I could look it up on your website. Thank you.
Hi Angela! Honestly, I thought the stew was simply fabulous without the milk so in my opinion, you could just leave it out! Aww thank you so much for going to see it and so glad you enjoyed it!! I was so grateful to be apart of such a moving and inspiring project!
Yes, it is called “Best Vegan Garlic Alfredo”, here is the link:
https://thevegan8.com/vegan-garlic-alfredo-sauce/
I got so excited that I didn’t even realize I ordered the Kindle version. LOL. Now I will have to go back and order the actual book once we move next month, I simply must have this book on my shelf!
Haha, awesome Linda, I know you will love it! The book is very beautiful!
This looks like an amazing book filled with healthy recipes!
This looks amazing! I just need to pick up some collard greens and I can make this tomorrow night!
Wonderful Liz, come back and rate the recipe after you make it, would love to hear how you liked it!
Looks like a great recipe, and I’m excited to check out the book!
what kind of curry paste do you use?
Hi Ellie! I used Thai Kitchen Red curry paste 🙂
Looks tasty! Your oil substitution is a nice touch too.
This looks so delicious. I am always looking for recipes to help keep me eating a whole foods plant based diet. Thank you for sharing it.
Her recipes are wonderful and so full of amazing ingredients, plants and grains. I hope you love the stew Cheri!