Healthier stew, that’s how you make it

More vegetables less potatoes

Adjust the ratio between the potatoes and vegetables. Many recipes are based on one kilo of potatoes for 4 people and about 500 grams of vegetables. Rather take 800-900 grams of vegetables and 600-700 grams of potatoes. By adjusting this ratio, you have more vegetables in your stew and less of the carbohydrate-rich potato. Tasty and easy! Do you find it a bit boring so much of the same vegetable? Then replace part of it with an extra vegetable. Think of diced bell pepper, a chopped (fried) onion, diced tomatoes or some raw spinach.

Replace some of the potatoes

Another way to get fewer potatoes in your stew is to replace (part of) the potatoes with a vegetable that you can mash well. Such as celeriac, turnip, parsnip, cauliflower, pumpkin or carrot. You can cook this with the potatoes and mash it together.

Use the cooking liquid

You usually make a stew creamy with butter and milk. This can also be done with cooking liquid: the vegetable cooking liquid in particular adds a lot of flavour. Therefore, collect the cooking liquid when you drain the potatoes/vegetables. Use it after mashing to get the stew to the desired thickness. If you use more vegetables than potatoes, your stew will be less dry by itself.

Replace the sausage or bacon

Admittedly, an occasional piece of (smoked) sausage or bacon through the stew is very tasty. But if you put stew on the menu every week, serve some less calorie-dense variations. Instead of bacon you can think of cubes of smoked chicken breast or cubes of (raw) ham. Vegetarian pieces are also an option. Less calorie-dense variations on the smoked sausage are chicken bratwurst, a meatball, piece of chicken breast or fried beef strips. And how about the occasional piece of fish with the stew? A little smoked mackerel or a piece of salmon also works well. Not that it is much leaner than sausage, but fish does contain healthier fats than meat.

Watch the gravy

Of course, a stew can also be tasty without gravy. Serve the stew, for example, with some mustard, piccalilli or tomato ketchup. But are you very fond of the dip of gravy? Then make your gravy light. This is how you do it: after roasting the meat, stir the sticks with the remaining fat. Saute a very finely chopped onion, possibly some garlic. Then add moisture. Think of cooking liquid from the potatoes or vegetables, but it can also be some stock or a dash of red wine. You can use plain water that you season with a dash of soy sauce, soy sauce, some mustard or some tomato puree. Thicken the gravy with some loosened cornflour, if desired.

Two tasty and healthier stew recipes

Endive stew with kohlrabi and smoked chicken fillet for 2 people

Ingredients

200 grams of potatoes
500 grams diced kohlrabi
120 grams smoked chicken breast in cubes
1 tablespoon butter or oil
1 small onion
75 grams of mushrooms
50 ml milk
200 grams sliced ​​endive
nutmeg
possibly mustard

Prepare

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces. Cut the kohlrabi into slices and peel them. Wash the slices and cut them into cubes. Boil the potatoes together with the kohlrabi in a little water with a pinch of salt for about 20 minutes.
• Fry the chicken breast cubes in a frying pan with the butter or oil until soft. Peel and chop the onion. Cut the mushrooms into slices.
• Fry the onion and mushrooms for about 5 minutes with the chicken cubes.
• Drain the potatoes with the kohlrabi and mash them fine. Stir in the milk until a smooth stew forms.
• Spoon the endive and chicken mixture through the stew and season with pepper, nutmeg and, if desired, mustard.

4 types of vegetable stew with nuts for 4 people

Ingredients

500 grams of potatoes
400 grams celeriac
400 grams of pumpkin
2 onions
1 red pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 handfuls of arugula
100 grams coarsely chopped walnuts

Prepare

• Peel the potatoes and celeriac and cut them into pieces. Bring the potatoes, together with the celeriac, to the boil with a little water and cook them for about 20 minutes.
• Cut the pumpkin into pieces. Cook the pumpkin along with the potatoes and celeriac for the last 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile peel the onion and chop it. Clean the red pepper, remove the seeds and cut the pepper into pieces. Clean the bell pepper and cut it into cubes.
• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, pepper and paprika for 2 minutes. The bell pepper should remain al dente.
• Drain the potatoes and vegetables, reserving the cooking liquid. Steam dry briefly and mash them coarsely with a potato masher. Stir in the onion mixture. Stir well, add some cooking liquid if necessary and heat through.
• Season with pepper and possibly some salt. Divide the stew among 4 plates. Place a little arugula on top of each stew and divide the nuts over it.