Vegan Kale Stew with Seitan and White Beans
Some of you already asked us for a vegan recipe for "Grünkohl und Pinkel" which literally means "kale and pee". But before you get the wrong idea: this is a typical dish from Northern Germany, and the "Pinkel" refers to a coarse-grained, smoked sausage, which is added to the kale and served with potatoes and mustard. There are numerous regional variations of this dish, but we don't even want to bother with this topic for too long, because today we're not even cooking "Grünkohl und Pinkel" (we can almost feel the disappointment) but a simple, hearty kale stew.
BUT ... there are some parallels to the classic Northern dish, so we might be able to still satisfy some of those who are disappointed now. Our stew also contains onions, kale, and potatoes, as well as seitan, which can take over the meaty part. However, if you don't like seitan, if you can't find it in any store, or if you're gluten intolerant, you can leave it out completely. If you want to go for seitan, feel free to add it in whichever shape you can get it – if you want to cook whole seitan sausages in this stew, just go ahead! We used a kind of shredded seitan, but you could also cut a larger piece of seitan into smaller chunks.
As with most stews, the preparation is quite simple: once you prepared and cut all ingredients, you'll add them to the pot one after the other. They are fried, deglazed, and simmer together until the stew is done. We also add canned white beans, which go very well with kale and keep a wonderful creamy bite. This way, you will end up with various textures in this stew: firm to the bite potatoes, meaty seitan, tender white beans, and kale everywhere. If you can't get fresh kale, you can also use frozen one, but be sure to defrost it before you add it to the pot.
Last but not least: no worries, if you don't have or don't want to use miso paste. It's only optional, and the stew tastes great even if you only season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and allspice. Still, the miso paste adds more depth and flavor.
Vegan Kale Stew with Seitan and White Beans
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) fresh kale
- 500 g (1 lb) waxy potatoes
- 2 onions
- 2 garlic cloves
- 200 g (7 oz) seitan
- 500 ml (2 cups) water
- 500 ml (2 cups) vegetable stock
- 240 g (8.5 oz) white beans from a can (drained weight)
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tbsp white miso paste (optional)
- neutral vegetable oil for frying
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
Instructions
Wash the fresh kale and remove the tough stems, leaving only soft stems and leaves. Roughly chop these. Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Peel and finely dice the onions and garlic. Cut the seitan into bite-sized pieces.
Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. First, sear the seitan for approx. 5 minutes until browned. Add the diced onions and sauté for 2–3 minutes until translucent. Then add the garlic and continue frying for approx. 2 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock and water. Add the potatoes to the pot, bring everything to a boil once, then reduce the heat and simmer the potato pieces for approx. 8 minutes.
Add the chopped kale and cook for another 10 minutes. During the last 5 minutes, add the white beans (either without or with their liquid).
Season the stew with salt, pepper, allspice, and optionally with miso paste to taste. Grate fresh nutmeg over it just before serving.
