Vegan chilli is a cheap and tasty meal and, although we are not vegan, it is one of our staple meals as it is full of goodness and easy to make. I don’t always have a pepper and often do not have mushrooms and so I just throw in any vegetable that needs eating up like carrots. I even put potatoes in it some times. I just grate or cut things up small. Some times it looks more like a stew if it is chunky. Some times I grate everything and it looks more like a traditional chilli con carne.
Ingredients
One red pepper
6 button mushrooms
1 tin of tomatoes (or a cup of roasted home grown tomatoes, minus the skins and a tsp of tomato puree)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tin of kidney beans (or other beans. I sometimes add some I have grown in the garden)
1.5 cups of red lentils
1 tsp of chilli powder, or chilli flakes (more if you like it spicy but it is better to add some more later rather make it too hot). I also use fresh chillies from my green house (usually half of one to a whole one, depending on what kind they are).
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of ground coriander
1 tbsp tomato puree (or more if you like it thicker)
1 vegetable stock pot, or home made stock made from vegetable peelings
Method
There Tagsare different ways to cook this. I throw everything into a slow cooker with half a pint to a pint of stock. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 to 8 hours. Stir occasionally and taste to see if it needs any salt or pepper or heat. If it is too thin you can add some more tomato puree. I also like to add a squeeze of tomato sauce to it to sweeten it sometimes. I find that I don’t need to do this if I am using organic tinned tomatoes, or home grown ones.
This can also be boiled in a pan. I would cook the onion in some oil first and then add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the vegetables are tender.
If I have my oven on I will cook it in a casserole dish.
This chilli can be served with rice or pasta. I sometimes switch it up by putting cheesy mash on top of left overs, or making it into potato nachos. We sometimes use it as a side dish with other things if we are having a fish or meat eating day. Left overs have also been used to fill pasties, to have for breakfast with eggs cooked in it, watered down and used as a soup, with some rice or pasta added and eaten with bread. We have even served it with pasta. We often make a batch that will last us about 3 meals each by adding lots of extra vegetables.
We are not vegetarian and so sometimes if we can not afford meat we will add an inch of chorizo for more taste.
Thanks toni my sort of food ,I’ll give this a try ,I make chilli but with dried t v p