Recipe: Vegan Stew with ale & pearl barley

⏱ Make it a Slow Cooker Stew

This stew is perfect for making in the slow-cooker, and there are instructions in the recipe for how to do this. Depending on the timings of your day, you can cook it for either 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.

I do find that it can be tricky to get a really good thick, glossy stew if cooked from scratch in the slow cooker, so I like to start mine on the hob as per the instructions below. Let the onions soften and start to brown, the mushrooms let out some of their moisture, and get the flour cooked into the sauce a little before tipping everything into the slow cooker.

You might feel that defeats the object slightly, and slow cookers are for 'tip it all in and forget about it' kind of meals, but I would rather make that extra 5-7 minutes effort to get a really sensational stew.

However, if you are really short of time and do just want to tip it all in, just one minor change will make a difference. Swap the flour for cornflour, and mix it to a thick paste with a little of the vegetable stock. This will prevent a lumpy, floury gravy disaster.

📝 What you need

Ingredients

Mushrooms These are the 'meaty' bits of the stew so keeping them in large chunks is important - halve or quarter them rather then slicing too finely. I like to use a mixture of chestnut mushrooms which keep their firm texture when cooked, and flat mushrooms as they are just so big and juicy. I sometimes use whole button mushrooms instead which are also really lovely as they keep their bite.

Ale gives the gravy its deep, beery flavour - whether you use a dark, hoppy ale or a lighter pale ale is entirely up to you. Check it is vegan - the Barnivore app is helpful for this, though more and more are being properly labelled these days.

If you prefer not to use ale, just increase the quantity of vegetable stock instead.

Vegetable stock A good quality vegetable stock makes a difference to the flavour of the gravy. I've recently discovered OXO's new beef-flavoured vegan stock cubes which are really lovely in stews like this.

Cider vinegar adds a lovely sour edge to the gravy. A white wine vinegar will also work well, or balsamic (which will turn it a darker colour), but malt may be a little too astringent. If you don't have any to hand just leave it out, it will still be delicious!

Thyme Fresh thyme is really lovely in this stew - its aromatic flavour infuses through all the ingredients as they cook. Try to find the sprigs to remove the stalks at the end of cooking time, or as you serve the portions. If you don't have fresh thyme to hand, ½ tsp of dried thyme is fine instead.

Pearl barley This bulks out the stew to become a meal in itself, and has such a lovely slightly chewy texture. As it cooks it soaks up all the flavours of the gravy, so you have delicious little pillows dotted through the stew.

Baby potatoes Try to find small, waxy potatoes as they will keep their texture when cooked - baby potatoes, Charlotte, Anya or even Jersey Royals are ideal. More floury potatoes will collapse when cooked and aren't really suitable.

Equipment

It is your choice whether to make this stew on the hob / stove or in a slow cooker.

If you're making it on the hob, a good, sturdy casserole dish with a lid is ideal. My trusty Le Creuset casserole gets used almost every day in our house, and twelve years later (it was a wedding present!), it looks just the same as it did the day we got it. (Can't say the same about me or Mr F, sadly!!).

If you're thinking of making this in a slow cooker instead, my favourite is this Crockpot with a hinged lid and digital timer. You can pick up a basic slow-cooker very cheaply these days, or look out on second hand sites as they are often being given away hardly used.

👩🏽‍🍳 Variations

There are a number of changes you can make to this vegan stew to keep it interesting if you make it reguarly, (you will once you've tried it!):

• Make it with red wine Swap the ale for the same quantity of a gutsy red wine, to turn this into more of a bourguignon, (you might like to see my Chestnut Mushroom Bourguignon too).
• Give it a protein boost by swapping the pearl barley for dried puy lentils, (or if you want to speed up the cooking time, use tinned green lentils instead).
• Make it with vegan 'meat' Use your favourite vegan chicken or beef replacements instead of (or as well as) the mushrooms.