This has become my signature dish. Invite me to a potluck and this vegetarian stew is more than likely what you’ll find when you lift the lid off my covered dish. It’s delicious, healthy, and very personally fulfilling to make.

The recipe is adapted from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook, by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. They, in turn, adapted it from The Greens Cookbook, which is a cookbook from the Greens, a very popular vegetarian restaurant in the Bay Area that is run by members of the Tassajara Zen community. So you see, although it’s called “Zuni” stew, there is a Zen connection (beyond the shared ZZZs).

As with everything Zen, Zen cooking is about being mindful of the process. Cutting, chopping, peeling, and working with fresh ingredients, whenever possible, will contribute to the Zen of the experience. That said, I know it isn’t always feasible to use only fresh produce, so I’ve given you some alternatives where possible. As I alluded to earlier, this recipe is based on one that was designed for a slow cooker or crock pot, but I’ve also used a big pot on the stove and it worked just fine.

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