chilli sin carne

The ideal comfort food for a cold, dark winter's day spent in lockdown.

photo by Yolanda 📷@yolanda_visions

I like chilli con carne. This is the vegetarian version, for the days you need a break from meat.

Chilli con carne is originally from Mexico and, according to legend, traditionally contained the remains of unlucky conquistadors. Whether this is true or not, to avoid any doubt I decided to remove the ‘carne’ from the recipe.

It’s also a great dish for those who, like me, have a picky vegetarian at home. It’s hearty enough to satisfy the meat-eaters, and delicious enough for my vegetarian daughter to request the recipe (she is a very picky eater, so this is a big deal).

Enjoy!

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chilli nada carne

5 portions

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Ingredients

• black beans – 1 can/800g, sieved and washed

• chickpeas – 1 can/400g, sieved and washed

• corn kernels – 200g, grilled in the oven or pan fried without oil

• onion – 140g, chopped

• garlic cloves – 4 pieces, finely chopped or grated

• red bell pepper – 1 piece/180g, finely chopped

• tomatoes – 1 can/400g, chopped

• tomato paste – 1 tablespoon

• chipotles in Adobo sauce – 1 piece, finely chopped

  • additional: extra 2 tablespoons Adobo sauce

• honey – 1 tablespoon

• sweet paprika – 1 teaspoon

• smoked paprika – 1 teaspoon

• cumin – 1 teaspoon

• dried oregano – 1 teaspoon

• olive oil – 30ml

• water – 400ml (tip: fill the tomato can with water and stir well, this will both use up any remaining tomato juice and also rinse the can so you can easily recycle it)

• salt – ½ teaspoon or more, according to your taste

To serve: fresh coriander leaves, sour cream or Greek yogurt, lime and white long rice

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Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Sauté the onions until soft, then add the garlic and cook for 10 seconds or until fragrant.

2. Add the bell pepper and mix. Sauté everything for 2 minutes, stirring from time to time, then add the tomato paste, chipotle with the Adobo sauce, all the spices, honey, salt, tomatoes and water.

3. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add tomato sauce, beans and corn and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Enjoy the food with a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt on top, coriander leaves and freshly squeezed lime, along with white rice.

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Tips & cheats

• I always like to add another teaspoon of cumin and a big, fat garlic clove, finely grated, at the end. You can also add more chipotles in Adobo sauce, but keep in mind who’s eating the food and how spicy you want it to be.

• Start the rice before you begin cooking the chilli nada carne. I use a standard rice cooker and it needs 30 minutes to be cooked (with an additional 10 minutes resting time at the end).