Greek Green Peas Stew (Vegan, GF)

Loaded with olive oil and fresh veggies, this Green Peas Stew is one of the best (and personal favourite) recipes for green peas.

It’s a traditional Greek dish, called Arakas Laderos, and it's very similar to Stewed Green Beans. The peas are slowly stewed in a light, oily tomato sauce, along with potatoes, onions, carrots, zucchinis, and a bit of fresh dill, which I must say goes perfectly with green peas.

Table Of Contents

• Ingredients
• Fresh Or Frozen?
• How To Make
• Serve With
• Recipe

The secret to cooking the best green peas is to combine them with the right ingredients to enhance their sweetness. For example, sweet veggies like onions, carrots, and tomatoes. Also, for delicious green peas, give them enough time to cook. Until they become sweet (just like with other sweet veggies like carrots), the more you cook them, the sweeter they become.

This stewed green peas recipe is a truly healthy dish to include in your weekly meal plan. Green peas are a very nutritious vegetable and have lots of health benefits.

Ingredients

• Green peas: fresh or frozen
• Onion
• Garlic
• Tomato paste
• Fresh tomatoes. Or you can use canned diced tomatoes, especially if it's winter and tomatoes are out of season. If you use canned diced tomatoes, use about 300 grams (10.5 ounces) unless you want the dish to be more saucy than oily; in that case, use 400 grams (14-ounce tin).
• Potatoes: Starchy potatoes like Yukon Gold are best. Also, sweet potatoes go great in this stew; they match the sweet flavors of this dish perfectly.
• Dill or fennel greens also go great.
• Carrots
• Zucchini: preferably baby zucchini or small tender ones.
• Extra virgin olive oil.

Fresh Or Frozen?

In this recipe (and almost every time I cook green peas), I use frozen ones. They’re harvested at the right time and get frozen immediately. Which means they are never old and dry (which is always a risk with fresh produce).

How To Make

To make this Greek Pea Stew, first saute some onion and garlic in olive oil. Then toss in the peas, carrots, potatoes, and zucchini. Cook for a few minutes more, and then add the tomato paste and fresh chopped tomatoes.

The more you sauté the vegetables and remove their moisture, the better and stronger the final flavor.

Next, pour in some hot water or vegetable stock and simmer over low heat. How long depends on how crisp or tender you like your veggies. In Greece, we cook veggies until very soft. And the truth is, well-cooked green peas are sweeter.

Lastly, pour in some extra virgin olive oil and fresh chopped dill, and cook until there's almost just the oil left in the pot.

Serve With

In Greece, we always serve our veggie dishes with a big piece of feta cheese and a few slices of bread for dipping in the sauce. Moreover, if you want to serve this dish as a side, try it with these Crisp Oven Roasted Chicken Quarters, they're amazing together.

Recipe