Hello again! Today we are going on another culinary journey together. Are you ready? Fireworks for your taste buds are pre-programmed. Taken by my words! It will be spicy and tingly on the palate. Together we go on an excursion into the world of pulses. On the menu; vegan lentil stew diavolo with vegan bacon. Yes, that’s right, vegan bacon. Because such fancy products are available now, so I would say, polish your soup spoons and get ready. Because it won’t just be delicious, but also diabolically tasty!
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My love for pulses – especially lentils – is insatiable. Junior has rather mixed feelings about this. That’s why I often find myself in my tiny kitchen thinking about how to take his love of lentils to a higher level. Thanks to Pinterest, I came across the following recipe and knew immediately that it would be interpreted à la Velvet & Vinegar.
That’s how the idea for this lentil stew was born. Yes, food bloggers also get their inspiration from elsewhere. But not everyone feels the need to declare their source of inspiration 🫢.
But back to the real star of the show. Guys, this lentil stew with vegan bacon is so spicy that it even knocks the devil off its socks. Hence the name Diavolo. Diavolo is Italian and stands for devil. And since your taste buds go up in flames when you eat this stew – only in a positively hellish way, of course – there’s no better name.
I still have a small anecdote. If you are not interested, there is the “Jump to recipe” function above. Did you know that lentils are said to bring good luck? In Italy, lentils are served on New Year’s Eve for this very reason.
So if you ever receive lenses as a gift, it could be the start of a life filled with happiness and good luck! Especially if your name is Gladstone Gander. Maybe I should explain this to my son at the next lentil feast 🤣.
Back to the essentials… A vegan lentil stew with bacon scores points across the board because it is filling. Another plus point is the culinary fireworks. Because there’s nothing better in winter than a dish with chili that fires you up from the inside out. Convinced? Wonderful! 👍🏻
First we negotiate the choice of lenses. Please do not use red lentils for this lentil stew. Unless you have no teeth left in your mouth or you’re a lazy chewer. They are great for Indian lentil dishes. However, they are not the first choice in hearty national Swiss and German cuisine. All in all, we want lentils with a bite.
I swear by brown lentils. Brown lentils as a side dish are simply the best! They taste wonderfully nutty and retain their bite when cooked.
So choosing the right type of lentils is half the battle. Alternatively, you can also use Beluga lentils or Puy lentils. However, the former may discolor the sauce.
Let’s turn our attention to the chili. The second main actor in this culinary game. To make it devilishly hot, it is best to braise the dried chili slowly in olive frying oil at a low temperature before adding the other ingredients. This is because oil is the absolute best flavor carrier and absorbs the heat of the chili perfectly. You can top it all off by adding garlic at the very end of the braising process.
If you have a little more time available, you can soak the chili in the oil the day before. And the really lazy ones simply use chili pizza oil. However, please make sure that you do not heat it above 180°. Because it is not usually intended for frying.
Then the vegetables: onions, carrots, celery – all in the pot! And off we go!
Pssst…. Now I’ll tell you the secret to this lentil stew; vegan bacon. Ok, the ingredient isn’t really a secret, it’s in the title. But I definitely have your attention now. Yap, correct, absolutely correct. There is now bacon out in the world without animal ingredients. And it tastes just as crispy and aromatic. I used ready-made vegan bacon from Outlawz for this lentil stew recipe.
However, if you don’t want to buy ready-made products, are on a budget or mainly eat a wholefood diet, you can also make vegan bacon yourself.
You can find a coconut bacon recipe here on the blog. You can also make your own vegan bacon using rice paper or mushrooms.
What about side dishes for the brown lentil stew with savory bacon?
Because quite honestly, even the best stew is happy to have social contacts on the soup plate. Some of you are probably arguing that brown lentils with bacon are already a perfect dream combination. I have no objection to that per se, but you can always take something wonderful a little further, can’t you?
So here are a few favorites that make wonderful side dishes for brown lentils, lentil stew and lentil vegetables. How about crusty toasted wholemeal bread, fettuccine al dente, rice or perhaps a green salad? All great accompaniments to lentils, especially this vegan lentil stew.
With this in mind, cheers to lentil stew, bon appétit and may luck be with you!
Bon appétit!
*This blog post was created to experiment & to get to know ChatGPT (AI) and was rewritten and reinterpreted by me. The recipe is mine, not KI generated!
Note: After testing two AI tools, I have concluded that I will probably no longer use them in the future, as they are incompatible with my ethical principles. However, it was exciting to test these tools and get to know their capacities and limitations. If I use AI for my content in the future, this will be declared.
Vegan Lentil Stew Diavolo
Equipment
- 1 pot or larger cast iron pan
- 1 frying pan or cast iron pan
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp olive oil
- 7 dried chilies
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 onion
- 2 small carrots approx. 100g
- 2 stems celery stalks, with greens approx. 50g
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 200 g brown lentils dried
- 450 ml tomato passata
- 700 ml water*
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 110 g vegan bacon, cubed
- soy yogurt as a topping
- toasted bread or fettuccine as a side dish
Instructions
- Pour the olive oil into a saucepan or cast iron pan. Lightly crush the dried chilies and add to the olive oil. Slowly braise the chillies in the oil over a very low heat for approx. 5 minutes. Take care not to burn the chilies. If any are burnt, remove them before adding the other ingredients and add new ones.
- Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves.
- Peel and finely chop the onions. Wash the carrots and celery well and pat dry. Peel the carrots. Cut the carrots and celery into small pieces. Set aside the celery greens as a topping.
- Add the garlic cloves to the hot oil with the chillies and braise for 30 seconds over a low heat. As soon as the garlic begins to change color, add the onions, carrots and celery.
- Stir everything well and fry for 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and lentils and stir in. Fry briefly over a low heat for a further minute.
- Deglaze with tomato passata and add 300ml water. If you prefer, you can also add 100-200 ml of red wine and a little less water. Stir briefly until everything is well combined.
- Add the salt and paprika, cover and simmer the stew over a low heat. Keep checking whether liquid needs to be added and, if necessary, add a little water. The lentils should be swimming in sauce at all times.
- In the meantime, fry the vegan bacon cubes in a frying pan or cast iron pan according to the instructions on the pack until crispy*.
- Then fold the vegan bacon cubes into the stew. Cover the lentil stew and continue to simmer over a low heat until the lentils are cooked.* This takes approx. 50-60 minutes. Therefore, season to taste from time to time and test whether they are already cooked.
- Serve the Diavolo lentil stew hot. If you like, you can add a dollop of soy yogurt and finely chop the celery greens and serve as a topping. Toasted bread or fettuccine al dente goes well with the stew.
