Chilean sweet potato stew: Porotos Granados

I’m so excited to share this wonderfully easy and delightful Chilean sweet potato stew with you. This is the perfect blend of veggies, fresh oregano and smoked paprika. Clean eating, full of flavor, satisfaction with a bullet -this is what plant-based cooking is all about.

This recipe is a loose adaptation of Porotos Granados, which is a traditional Chilean summer stew made with beans, corn and squash. Like so many ‘rural’ recipes, this one doesn’t require any plant-based adjustment – it’s always been that way.

Traditionally, Porotos Granados is made with cranberry beans (or pinto beans). I chose to use a relative – brown borlotti beans which hale a bit further away in Italy. My advice is to use what you can easily find. Pinto beans are also a great idea for this recipe.

Regional food is all about availability. What’s growing and when. Summertime, when corn in in abundance is one reason it features in our stew. Corn is just starting to appear in our local markets, but you can easily make this recipe with canned corn.

Beans, corn and something orange. That’s our foundation. The more traditional ‘orange’ is squash, but I chose to make Chilean sweet potato stew because I wanted to balance out the spiciness of the smoked paprika. Also, if you want your stew thicker, you can mash a few of the sweet potato cubes again the side of the pan once they soften up. They will naturally break down and help thicken this savory and sweet stew.

This short list of complimentary vegetables is another great example of my endeavor to streamline cooking. One-pot cooking isn’t about modifying ingredients and certainly it isn’t about compromising our all-important eating experience. One-pot is a process of layering food and developing flavors. It works for all sorts of main meal dishes, from Chana Masala to Briam to dahl to red beans and quinoa.

One-pot considerations

If you have a favorite recipe that would be all the better in one big pot, start with a plan. Consider when, why and how long ingredients are cooked. Yes, beans and quinoa can be cooked together – they might need different times if they want to swim together. Think about your foundations, such as onions, celery or garlic. Consider your spices and fresh herbs. Are they hearty such as thyme? Or a bit more delicate such as cilantro or basil. You’ll want to put those delicate herbs in toward the end.

Final thoughts

I’ve discovered that regional, rural foods are the mother load when it comes to plant-based recipe development. They tend to be uncomplicated and more often than not, plant-based (or very easily adapted). “Poor people food”, someone said the other day. Perhaps. But it isn’t eating poor. There are lessons waiting to be learned from folks to cook what’s readily available (locally) and what tastes good. I’m always up for learning something new. Off to enjoy my next lesson. Peace.

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