Winter Comfort Fragrant Hotpot

Winter Comfort Fragrant Hotpot

This wonderfully nutritious easy-to-make belly-warming comfort food is a winter favourite which relies on seasonings and a good quality chicken stock. Make a large pot and you can eat from it for days, or package it for the freezer.

I’ve used a large a large Spiced Bean Meatball (see recipe) to give a little extra flavour and nourishment but you could just as easily use a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped bacon or left over roast meat. Just make sure it’s very finely chopped – you should barely be able to find it back again and it’s intended more as a flavour than as a main constituent of the dish.

I use a cast iron pot for these kinds of dishes. With a good-fitting lid, the hotpot happily cooks itself in cast iron without the requirement for constant stirring.

Ingredients

• 1 Onion (medium)
• 2/3 Large leek or one entire smaller leek
• 1/3 of a cabbage (medium)
• 6 celery stalks (medium)
• 1/2 large green apple
• 1 Spiced bean meatball or 3 Tbsp other pre-cooked meat
• 1 Sweet chili pepper (medium hot)
• 1 Large clove of garlic or two smaller ones
• 2 Anchovies
• 1.5 Tsps carraway seeds
• 1.5 Tsps salt (I use rock salt)
• 1.5 Tsps cumin
• 1 Dsp Chutney (I use pear and ginger)
• 1.5 Tbsps Olive oil
• 1/3 – 1/2 Cup green/brown lentils
• 1/3 – 1/2 Cup barley
• 2 Cups of chicken stock
• Water to cover everything very well

Method

In a cast iron pot or heavy-based saucepan, fry chopped Spiced Bean Meatball, onion, leeks, celery, and garlic in olive oil. As the vegetables begin to sweat down, add the chopped cabbage and apple. Chop your apple finely – you don’t want mouthfuls of apple – it’s only there to add depth and subtle flavour.

 

Once all your veges are nicely coated with oil and have sweated down, chop your sweet pepper very very finely and add it to the pot with the carraway seeds, salt, cumin, dried lentils, and barley. Continue to toss and fry for a few minutes. If you’re using a cast iron pot, leave your veges in it but if you have used another pot to fry up first, now transfer all your sweated down veges to a larger pot with a tight fitting lid.

Now add chicken stock, anchovies, and chutney and then top with enough water that the veges are at least an inch under water. Bring the pot to the boil and stir regularly. Once the pot is bubbling fast, turn the heat right down to low, pop the lid on top, and let it simmer into a delicious medley of flavours.

For those who don’t like anchovies, you can leave them out, but you should know that they disappear completely and you cannot detect them.

Leave to cook for approximately an hour, checking and stirring occasionally. The Winter Comfort Fragrant Hotpot is cooked when the lentils and the barley are tender. It’s even better the next day when the flavours have had an opportunity to blend.

 

 

Dish up into soup bowls and serve with a spoon, and possibly some garlic bread. Everyone will be well sated by this inexpensive flavoursome and nutritious dish.

Enjoy!