Cooking with Jamal for well-being

Last week, staff were offered another opportunity to use their well-being hours.* Cooking with Jamal was a two-hour workshop presented by the Zero Waste Café and the Office of Sustainability on Nov. 14.

The small group of five students and two employees were given the chance to cook a delicious vegan meal with chef Jamal Spence. He introduced us to a healthy, budget-friendly and rather simple-to-make vegan dish called Butternut Squash Stew.

It was simple because all it involved was chopping the vegetables, adding the canned tomatoes, spices and coconut milk then cooking in an instant pot for roughly 30 minutes. Even if you don’t have an instant pot you could do it on the stove top or in a slow cooker and would just have to adjust cooking times. Jamal explained to us that with a few adjustments, the recipe could be a soup instead.

Besides showing us how to best cut the veggies (butternut squash can be tricky!) and how to adjust your spices according to what you like, Jamal also spoke to us about how we should eat according to the season and what the body and digestive system need.

It is important to eat vegetables and fruits that are in season. Eating seasonally helps promote nutritious meals and supports a healthy environment and we then eat things that are at their peak freshness. Seasonal eating also encourages a varied diet while giving your body the nutrients it needs. Sustainable eating and seasonal eating go hand in hand: they both rely more on natural resources and less on artificial sources to provide food. Reducing food waste and encouraging long-term food planning are other goals of sustainable eating.

Being in the kitchen during what is typically the middle of the workday was a nice change of pace. Got us away from our desk for a bit, allowed us to use a different part of our brains and to socialize with a few students. A great initiative which I hope is offered again.

You can subscribe to Chef Jamal’s updates at http://xspencive.com He plans to share some of his knowledge, including his recipes, ahead of the cookbook he’s working on. Members will have access to a future blog, discount codes towards his dining experiences and so much more!

─Submitted by Carey-Ann Pawsey 

Vegan Butternut Squash Stew by Chef Jamal Spence

(recipe written by a participant in the Nov. 14 workshop. Should serve 4-6 people; reviewed by Jamal)

Ingredients:

Base ingredients:

• Grapeseed oil (Jamal’s recommended oil; use vegetable oil if you do not have it but olive oil may burn. Should only use olive oil for salads not for cooking)
• Red onion (1), chopped
• Ginger (2 inches), peeled and chopped (if you dislike ginger, use less or do not use it)
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• Green onions (4), chopped
• Bunch of parsley
• Bunch of cilantro (less than the parsley; omit if you don’t like it)
• Diced tomatoes (half a 796 ml tin)

Spices:

• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp turmeric
• Fresh thyme if you have (small bunch)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp Italian spices
• 1 tsp Allspice
• Pinch of cayenne or more if you like it hot
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp sea salt (Jamal likes pink Himalayan salt)

Vegetables:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 1 or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 branches of celery, chopped
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1 can of coconut milk

Method:

• In a large pot* on the stove, sauté your base ingredients beginning with the onion, garlic and ginger. After several minutes when they have softened up, add the other base ingredients
• Then add your spices and let them heat up and release their flavour
• Add your butternut squash and sweet potatoes, let them cook for 15 minutes
• Then add all other vegetables
• Let it simmer for another 30 minutes or until the butternut squash is softened up and the stew looks good
• Cook rice and serve your butternut squash stew over rice. Garnish with fresh herbs.

We cooked with big quantities. This recipe is my best guess at a recipe for 4-6 people.

*When cooking with Jamal, he used an Instant Pot. If you have one, you follow the same steps, but everything is much faster. Once you have your ingredients in the Instant Pot, it could take 20-30 minutes to cook.