Tasty Lentil Stew So Good Everyone Will Want Seconds! Plant Based Recipe Right At The Top. Instant Pot or Regular Pot

Note: Picture from my actual, normal person house.

I LOVE lentil stew. This is the one thing that I make every week. Recipe first, extremely long story later.

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow or white onion , diced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed or diced
• A few green onions, diced
• Any kind of mushrooms, sliced or diced
• 4 large carrots (more if they’re small), cut in coins or diced
• at least 4 stalks celery- and I like to chop up the little leaves for extra flavor- diced
• 1 pound potatoes- or one of those bags of baby potatoes- cut in one inch cubes
• 2 cups brown or green lentils
• Dried herbs to taste- oregano, rosemary, thyme, garlic powder
• Optional — A pinch of tumeric and/ or curry
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• Salt to taste — be careful not to add too much! See note at the end of the recipe
• 6 cups vegetable broth — or water
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Optional — 1 can of kidney beans, black beans, or navy beans
• Optional — 1 can crushed or diced tomatoes
• Optional — any other veggies you want to add

I start by preparing all the veggies and dicing everything, setting them aside until I’m ready. This way I don’t feel rushed.

Then, I warm up the olive oil in a pan on medium heat and then saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms, stirring frequently. As soon as the onion starts to go translucent, I add the celery and keep stirring every once in a while to keep it from burning or sticking. I read somewhere that a little bit of charring adds flavor and depth — but you don’t want to actually burn anything. It does seem to make the flavor pop.

There’s no hard and fast rule on how long this step needs to take. When everything is getting a little wiggly and the moisture is coming out, mushrooms are shrinking, etc, I transfer everything into a…