Lentil Stew

I struggled with writing this recipe, mainly because cooking is a lot more based on vibes than baking, due to the decreased margin for error. Another reason was because I make a massive pot of stew, whilst others may not, and so the amounts of each ingredient are based on how many vegetables you choose to add.

Ingredients (all ingredient amounts, apart from the vegetables, are per 1.5kg of vegetables added):

As many Carrots, Potatoes, and Onions as you can fit in your pot (for a large stew pot, usually around 1kg of each)
~100g Red Lentils
2 Vegetable Stock Cubes/Pots (diluted in 1L of Water) or 1L of Vegetable Stock
1 tablespoonful of Marmite
250ml Red Wine
Woucestershire Sauce to taste (If making without Wine this will be the only acidity, so you may want to go heavier.) (Optional if vegetarian, can replace with diced Kimchi.)
1tsp each of Dried Parsley, Dried Thyme and Dried Rosemary
3 Bay Leaves
Half a head of Garlic
Salt and Black Pepper (to taste)
A good glug of Olive Oil to fry
This is by no means an exhaustive list, stews are meant to be a hearty dish made of whatever you can get or whatever you enjoy. A few suggestions are: Beans (added near the last 15 minutes if tinned), Mushrooms (fried with the onions), or Broccoli (stem added at the start and florets added near the end)

Step-by-step Instructions:

Cut all of the Vegetables up before you start everything. 1 Inch cubes tends to be perfect for around a 2 hour cook. Make sure the Onions are chunky cut and separate from the rest of the Vegetables. The Garlic can be cut into thin slices and should also be separate.
On a high heat, add a generous amount of olive oil to a pan and fry the Onions until they begin to get some good browning on the outside, whilst avoiding cooking them too much on the inside. Make sure to keep them moving to avoid burning. Then deglaze with the Wine whilst scraping to get the lovely stuck-on-caramelized-onion off of the bottom and into the Wine, at this point add the Garlic. Let this cook down for a minute or so.
Add the winey onion mix to your stewpot. Then add all of the other Vegetables to the pot. Add the Stock and then fill to just under the top of the Vegetables with water.
Add the Bay Leaves, Dried Herbs, Woucestershire Sauce and Marmite. The Marmite is essential to mimic beefy flavours without the beef.
Let the stew simmer on low heat for around 2 hours, or until the Potatoes and Carrots are getting very tender and some Potato is breaking up into the stew. At this point, it should still be quite watery and if it is very thick, add some water.
Add the Lentils for the last 15 minutes of cooking and the stew should be done when the Lentils are cooked to the chef's discretion. Don't be afraid to add more water if it is looking too thick, water makes the stew glossier and more enjoyable. Salt and Pepper to taste at this point, I feel like this stew benefits from a very large amount of pepper to add a really enjoyable kick. Serve with bread on its own, or with rice, couscous or absolutely any other starch.