Chilli (chili to American readers) is a great winter feast. It’s easy to make, can be tailored to your own requirements, depending on how hot you like it (or don’t like it, as the case may be) and is a proper comfort food. It’s also very easy to make a vegetarian version, which we’ll do here.
Although we grow our own chillies, you don’t need to, and indeed we don’t actually use our home-grown chillies in this dish. Instead we resort to chilli powder, which we buy loose from the market as it’s cheaper than jars from the supermarket.
Ingredients for two people
300g vegetarian mince
1 small onion
1 green pepper
Large can of chopped tomatoes
Small can of kidney beans
A little oil for frying
Quarter of a teaspoon of chilli powder
(Optional) desert spoon of tomato puree
Method
Your starting point will depend on whether you are using a regular vegetarian mince substitute, such as Quorn, or a dried soya product. We favour the soya alternative. This needs to be reconstituted prior to use. Check the instructions on your particular soya product, but in our case we weigh our 100g of dried soya mince and, leaving the bowl on the scales, add a further 200g of boiling water for a total weight of 300g. Stir well and leave to soak until the mince has puffed up and the water has all been absorbed.
Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a frying pan and dice your onion and pepper. Fry off the onion, but don’t let it burn and, when it’s starting to go a little transparent at the edges, add the pepper. Fry for another three minutes, then add your reconstituted soya mince (or Quorn mince), can of tomatoes and can of kidney beans.
Mix well.
You now need to add the chilli powder, and this is where you have to be careful. First and foremost, don’t get the chilli powder in your eyes, and wash your hands well after handling. Add whatever quantity you are happy with, remembering that a little goes a very long way. In our recipe we use a quarter of a teaspoon because we also buy our kidney beaks in a chilli sauce.
Sprinkle the chilli well so that it is not all in one place and then mix again to distribute it evenly.
If you have a lid for your frying pan, seat it on the pan and then allow to cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. If it starts to look dry because your tomatoes are cooking away, add a little vegetable stock.
A good money-saving tip is to use value chopped tomatoes, large cans of which can be bought for a few pence. These are good in that they often have a high quantity of juice in comparison to the amount of solid tomato, so produce a nice moist chilli, but can lack a strong tomato flavour. If this is the case, add a generous helping of tomato puree at the same time as the canned tomatoes and mix through.
Once your chilli is properly cooked, serve with freshly boiled rice or flat bread.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Oooh a good receipe and not expensive either. Just what’s needed in this weather – something to warm us up and not cost us in the after Christmas period.