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AI-generated photograph: Golden ital stew in a wide cream bowl with squash, okra rounds, kidney beans and wilted greens in coconut sauce, with a small plate of white rice beside it

Home · Recipes · Ital stew with squash and coconut

Caribbean · Dinner

Ital stew with squash and coconut

coconut and thyme · butternut squash · okra and kidney beans

AI-generated photograph

A gentle Rastafarian vegetable stew of butternut squash, sweet potato, okra and kidney beans in coconut milk with thyme and allspice, served with rice. Ital means natural food, cooked simply and without meat.

Contains: none of the 14 allergens, as written. None of the 14 allergens is in this recipe as written. Coconut is not a tree nut under UK rules. Stock cubes can contain celery, so check the packet.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) vegetable oil or coconut oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • A thumb-sized piece of ginger (about 20g), grated
  • 4 spring onions, sliced
  • 10g fresh thyme (about 8 sprigs)
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • Half a butternut squash (about 600g), peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
  • 1 medium sweet potato (about 300g), peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks
  • 400ml tin coconut milk
  • 300ml vegetable stock (1 stock cube in 300ml hot water)
  • 1 scotch bonnet chilli, left whole
  • 400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 150g okra, sliced into rounds
  • 100g spinach or callaloo, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
  • To serve: 300g long-grain rice

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Let's cook

  1. Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Fry the onion for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, ginger, spring onions, thyme sprigs and allspice and fry for 2 minutes.
  2. Add the squash, sweet potato, carrots and pepper and stir to coat them in the spices.
  3. Pour in the coconut milk and stock and add the whole scotch bonnet. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently, partly covered, for 20 minutes.
  4. Add the kidney beans and okra and simmer for 10 minutes more, until the squash is soft and some pieces have broken down to thicken the sauce.
  5. Meanwhile cook the rice. Wash it, put it in a pan with 450ml water, bring to the boil, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Leave it covered off the heat for 5 minutes.
  6. Stir the spinach into the stew for 2 minutes until wilted. Take out the scotch bonnet and thyme stalks. Taste and add the salt a little at a time.
  7. Serve the stew in bowls with the rice on the side.

Tips

  • A whole scotch bonnet gives a gentle warmth and a fruity smell. Do not let it burst, or the stew will be very hot.
  • Callaloo is a leafy green sold fresh or tinned in Caribbean shops; spinach is a good swap.
  • The stew keeps for 3 days in the fridge; reheat it until steaming hot. Cool leftover rice quickly and eat it within a day.

Swaps

  • Pumpkin: in autumn, use the same weight of pumpkin instead of squash.
  • Extra heat: prick the scotch bonnet with a knife before adding it.

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