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VEGAN CHULENT

Adapted from the recipe by Vered Guttman

For the beans and sweet peppers:

  • 200g (1 cup) dried chickpeas
  • 200g (1 cup) cannellini beans
  • 200g (1 cup) pinto beans
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 large onions, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 4 roasted red peppers (from a jar), sliced
  • 4½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the stuffed Swiss chard:

  • 280g (1½ cups) long grain rice, soaked in water for one hour
  • 12 large Swiss chard leaves
  • 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoon lime juice
  • 4 teaspoons tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt

For the potato:

  • 4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • ½ cup pitted dates
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt

Soak the beans for at least 8 hours or overnight in cold water that covers the beans by at least 2 inches.

In a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot with a tight lid that can fit in the oven (you can also transfer the whole chulent to a slow cooker, but will still need to fry the onions and peppers first).

Heat the oil over medium-high heat and sauté onions until golden brown. Add sugar and peppers and continue to cook for five minutes more (if using a slow cooker, transfer onions, and peppers to a slow cooker at this point, otherwise continue in the pot). Add beans and chickpeas, salt and pepper, mix well and remove from heat.

While the onions are sautéing, start making the stuffed Swiss chard. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Hold each Swiss chard leaf with the stalk as a handle and dip the green part into the boiling water for a few seconds, then transfer to a colander. Remove the white stalk and discard them.

Strain the soaked rice and mix with brown sugar, lime juice, tomato paste, salt, and black pepper. Put one chard leaf on a working surface, glossy side down. Put a spoonful or two (depending on its size) of the rice close to the bottom of the leaf, fold sides over rice and roll not too tight over the rice. Arrange on top of the beans in the pot. Continue with the rest of the chard leaves.

In a large bowl mix potatoes, sweet potatoes, dates, black pepper, and salt. If your pot is wide enough, arrange potato mixture next to stuffed chard, otherwise, arrange potatoes over the stuffed chard.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.

Add 5 cups boiling water to the pot and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes, if adding whole eggs to your chulent, add then at this point. Cover pot with lid. If the lid is not very tight, cover the whole pot with two layers of aluminum foil. Transfer to oven and bake overnight (if using a slow cooker, set the slow cooker set it to high for an hour, before lowering heat and cooking overnight).