I was feeling a little worse for wear this morning (and afternoon) and I was in need of something delicious. A few weeks ago when I was in Belfast I tried out a burrito in a place called Boojum (you definitely want to see this! Click here) and it rocked my world. With that in mind, I decided that I wanted chilli. And I wanted Mr Herby to make it while I lay on the couch. But he can’t cook. And neither can lots of people, and they don’t realise how easy it can be.
My chilli was actually vegetarian friendly as I switched to meat-free mince about a year ago, but you can use real mince if you like.
Ingredients
100g mince
400g mixed beans
100ml of stock
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 pepper
1 onion
Tomato purée
Garlic purée
Mild chilli powder
50g rice / Tortilla wrap / Bag of tortilla crisps / Baked potato
Serving size: 3 generous portions
I used to buy several tins of different beans, it was such a faff. Thankfully ASDA started selling a tin already mixed! It contains pinto beans, navy peas, red kidney beans and black turtle beans. If you ditch the mince then these beans are a perfect replacement as they’re packed with protein but low in fat.
I have a drawer in my freezer dedicated to frozen vegetables and I swear by it. I have ready-to-go vegetables with no preparation, no waste and they last months. I fried my diced onion, sliced peppers and mince until cooked. Meat free mince looks a bit like dog food(!) but its lovely.
This is where you realise how easy this actually is: add your can of chopped tomatoes, can of beans, 100ml stock, squidge of your tomato and garlic purées and then add your chilli. 15ml per person is standard, but I fairly hammer the chilli in to get more of a kick. I don’t like hot chilli powder – it’s spicy but I don’t think it tastes as nice.
A wee tip: I put a half teaspoon of ground turmeric (the bright yellow one) into my chilli. Turmeric is good at bringing out the flavour of tomatoes and its got a curry-esque spice.
Put the lid on and leave it to gently bubble away. Put your pan of water on for your rice (if that’s what you’re eating it with).
Rinse your rice thoroughly in a sieve under the tap – it stops the water going all starchy which causes the rice to stick together and the water goes all foamy.
Put your rice into the boiling water and let it cook for 7-10mins until soft. I took the lid off my chilli pot for this last bit of cooking to drive out some of the liquid and let it get saucy.
The only way to cook rice perfectly is to taste it periodically after the first 5mins. Drain the rice, serve into your bowl and top with chilli.
If you’re feeling a bit naughty, then I totally recommend this:
Pepper, chilli and jalapeño infused cheddar. Oh yes.
Chilli tastes even better the next day so I highly recommend making it the night before!
What a beautiful combination: Toy Story 2 & cheesy, spicy, comforting chilli!
