For a micronutrient rich diet

This is a super speedy dish that works both hot or cold and requires little effort beyond opening a tin of beans. Don't be put off  by the use of celery here. Despite being hijacked by diet culture, tainted by its association with unpleasant snacktimes full of watery chomping, this delicate tasting plant is an excellent 'base' vegetable. The French famously use a mix of celery, onions, and carrots for mirepoix, often used as a base for sauces and soups, and it plays an important role in Cajun cooking too. Cultivated since antiquity, the first attested use of the word celery actually goes all the way back to Ancient Greece, where it's mentioned in the Linear B tablets; hugely significant sources of ancient writing found in Mycenae (think King Agamemnon). But if you really can't stomach celery, just swap it out, perhaps for a couple of spring onions, spinach or bok/pak choi instead.

What's the A to V?

Red kidney beans pack a pretty powerful micronutrient punch. High in non-heme (plant based) iron and magnesium, they're also a great source of molybdenum, chromium and sulphur. As for celery, like most green plants it's a great source of vitamin K and B9 aka folate.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped into rounds

400g of red kidney beans (1 tin, drained)

2 large carrots, diced

2 large (or 4 small) sticks of celery. topped and tailed and finely diced.

2 tbsp of olive or garlic oil

240g of tinned tomato

1 tbsp of tomato puree

1 tsp of cumin

1 dried chilli, crumbled

Handful of spinach, optional.

2 sprigs of parsley, chopped