I seem to be taking on a bit of a mexican theme at the moment. It’s completely non-intentional it must be what I am craving! Lets face it when it’s freezing outside a big bowl of warm vegetarian chilli with rice seems to tick all of the boxes.

I have another vegetarian chilli recipe here which is more vegetable focused as opposed to this one which is more bean focused! I hope you enjoy!

You will need:

1 x brown onion, diced

2 x cloves of garlic, crushed

1 x large red chilli sliced

10 cherry tomatoes, whole

1 cup cooked red kidney beans

1 cup cooked cannellini beans

1 cup cooked lentils

400g of chopped tinned tomatoes

400g of passata

1 tbsp of tomato paste

1-2 tsp chilli powder or flakes

3-4 squares of plain dark chocolate or a sprinkling of cocoa

Guacamole

2-3 ripe avocados, peeled and diced

2 tomatoes

¼ jalapeno

3 sprigs thyme

1 lime, juiced

1/3 cup red onion, diced

2 tbsp chopped coriander

salt and pepper to taste

Cooked white/brown rice**optional

Herbs: I used chopped parsley

Serves 4-6

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 150 degrees C.
• In a deep pan cook off the onion and garlic in oil (I like olive or coconut oil).
• Add in the fresh chilli, cook off for a few minutes.
• Add in the tomato paste, chilli powder, all the beans, passata and the chopped tomatoes. Give it a good stir and add some salt and pepper.
• Add in the cherry tomatoes.
• If the ingredients are not all covered by the sauce then top up the mixture with filtered water.
• Add in the chocolate or cocoa.
• Cook for a good 10 minutes and be careful it doesn’t reduce too much. Taste and add more chilli or seasoning if necessary.
• Transfer the mixture into a lidded baking dish and pop in the oven. Cook for 30 – 45 minutes on 150 degrees…be careful it doesn’t reduce too much (check it every 15 minutes). **see notes for a quicker cooking option.
• Meanwhile place all of the ingredients for the guacamole into a blender. Blend until you reach your desired consistency
• Pour the chilli over white or brown rice
• Season to taste.

• Serve with fresh herbs and spinach.
• Enjoy x x

Notes: 

• I find this is a dish that gets better with age! By cooking it in the oven I find the flavours combine really well and the sauce reduces to a nice thick consistency, however this is not necessary if you are in a rush you can just continue to cook it on the hob for an extra 10 minutes at least (so 20 minutes in total). I don’t think the end result is as nice and rich, but I understand that sometimes we just don’t have the time!
• This is awesome the next day and can be frozen into batches for your freezer stock.
• It is also nice with quinoa or freekeh

Feel free to add in extra pulses such as chickpeas

I have written and prepared this recipe for the Chefs Palate vegetarian/vegan menu. If you are pushed for time or need an extra hand in the kitchen you can order this meal kit in the coming months from their website (see link above). Chefs Palate has affordable weekly vegetarian and vegan, partly prepared meal-kit options for those who want to embrace healthy living but find it hard to prioritise going to the supermarket and spending hours in the kitchen (they also offer meat and fish options) – check them out NOW!