Chilli is the first dish I learned to cook from scratch over 10 years ago and it played a huge part in my weight loss journey and was a stepping stone to gaining confidence in the kitchen and finding cooking enjoyable!
These days, its still one of our favourite dishes but as I’m looking to eat less meat and try more plant based and vegetarian meals, I’ve adapted my classic chilli recipe to create a yummy meat free dish which is quick, easy and cheap to make as well as being packed full of protein to keep us full.
Ingredients – this makes about 6 portions
- 2 onions
- a courgette
- a punnet of mushrooms
- a carrot
- 2 sticks of celery
- (I would normally also use peppers but I’d run out when I made my last batch!)
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- a tin of sweetcorn
- 2 tins of beans – you can use whatever you like, I like to use the beans in a chilli sauce from Asda and a tin of cannellini beans but you can swap these out for your preferred bean!
- 100g of dried split red lentils
- 1 tsp of garlic
- 2 tsp of cumin
- 3 tsp of chilli powder (you can add as much or as little as you like, we like our chilli hot so I add quite a bit of hot chilli powder but you can tone it down if you’d prefer)
Method
– In your largest saucepan, add a splash of water, the garlic, cumin and chilli powder and allow to heat up gently.
– chop up all your veg, I use my veg chopper (one of my top 5 kitchen gadgets) for speed and easiness
– add all the chopped veg to your sauce pan and allow to cook for about 10 mins (this is a great way to ‘hide’ veg from members of your family who may not be the biggest fans of vegetables)
– add in the chopped tomatoes, the beans, sweetcorn and lentils
– give it a good stir, cover and gently simmer for 30 minutes. Give it a stir every now and again to stop it from catching on the bottom of your pan.
and voila, its done.
Serve with rice, cauliflower rice, iceburg lettuce wraps, grated cheese.
Portion up your leftovers and freeze ready for times when you can’t be bothered to cook or time is tight!
Why we should be eating more pulses!
Pulses include beans, lentils and peas. They’re a cheap, low-fat source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals and have a number of health benefits, including reducing cholesterol, decreasing blood sugar levels and increasing healthy gut bacteria.
