Recipe: Vegetarian Chilli (or, Chilli Sin Carne)

In other words...chilli without meat!

As usual, there's a story behind this.

My mother-in-law is an AMAZING cook. She'll deny it, I'm sure, but their house always smells like something delicious. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I popped in and she was making chilli con carne. My GOD the smell! I'd been wanting to try making chilli con carne myself for a while but seeing it being made gave me the nudge I needed to try it.

I had no idea how many different ways there are to make chilli until I decided to try it myself. After scouring the internet, looking at an awful lot of recipes, I eventually settled on the key components, and then fiddled around with the recipe until I was happy with the quantities of each ingredient.

My favourite thing about this recipe is its versatility. Sure, you can have it with rice...but you can include tortilla chips and cheese when serving to give it something extra. You can make homemade oven chips, throw the hot chilli on top, sprinkle over some mature cheddar, and have chilli cheese fries (ohhh my God, SO good!!). You can even add it to a fluffy baked potato. Because it can be reheated in the microwave, you can also take it to work for lunch. No more reasonably-tasty-but-slightly-limp sandwiches!

Another great thing is that it makes a HUGE batch - enough for 5-6 hungry people, and the leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a good 4 days.
 
Don't be put off by the list of ingredients - it's actually very simple to make.


Ingredients

2 onions, finely chopped
1tsp chilli flakes (if you can get it, throw in a diced ancho chilli and 2 diced chipotle chillis, or 1/2tsp chipotle paste)
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2tsp olive oil
2 large bell peppers, finely chopped
1 pint dehydrated soya mince, measured in a jug before adding water (Tesco Wholefoods does a gluten free soya mince).
2 heaped tsp paprika
2 heaped tsp turmeric
3tsp ground cinnamon
3tsp dried coriander leaf
2tsp ground cumin
2tsp ground coriander
400g carton sieved tomatoes (passata)
2 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 tins beans (I use one tin kidney beans and one cannelini beans for variety)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Heat the olive oil on a low heat in a large stock pot or saucepan. Add the onions and chilli, and allow to sweat for around 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and transluscent. Add the bell peppers and garlic, allowing them to sweat and soften for a few minutes, and stirring occasionally to prevent browning. Add boiled water to the soya mince and leave for a minute or two so the mince can absorb the water. Strain off, then add to the mixture in the pan. Throw in the sieved tomatoes and chopped tomatoes, then add all the spices. Turn the heat up so it's a medium-high heat.

Cover the pan with a lid and allow to simmer for half an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. Rinse the beans thoroughly, then add them. Give it all a good stir, then cover again and leave to simmer away. If you leave the lid on, you should be able to let it simmer for quite a long time, making this great to prepare an hour or so in advance of serving, if desired. When you're about half an hour from wanting to eat, leave the lid off and make sure you stir it often.


Serve hot, and in whatever way thrills you the most - whether it's with chips, rice or jacket potato. Most of all, enjoy!