Healthy Meat Free Bean Chilli

Delicious, healthy, meat free bean chilli served with rice, tortilla chips, plain yoghurt, fresh coriander and a quick homemade guacamole.

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Bean chilli is not only a great meat (and mock meat) free alternative to the classic chilli con carne, but it’s nutritious, yummy and will save you some money as well. Despite not being a vegetarian myself, I absolutely love making bean chilli for all those reasons! Here I made it with a combination of canned black beans, red and white kidney beans as well as some added carrots.

To make it even cheaper, always check the world food section first at supermarkets. The canned beans (and everything else in general!) tend to be less (and I mean considerably less) expensive there.

Difficulty level: easy

Preparation time: 5-10 mins (to cut the veggies)

Cooking time: 30-40 mins

Ingredients

Red kidney beans (400g tin, 240g drained weight)
White kidney beans (400g tin, 240g drained weight)
Black beans (400g tin, 240g drained weight)
2 medium onion
2 large carrots
6-7 garlic cloves
2 x 400g canned tomatoes
1.5 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1.5 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp oregano
2 bay leaves
Vegetable stock (I used 1 Kallo cube)
400ml water
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Toppings and sides:

Fresh coriander
Sour cream or plain yoghurt (or dairy free version)
Guacamole {recipe below}
Tortillas crisps
Rice

Quick Guacamole Ingredients

1 large (or 2 small) avocados
2 Tbsp bottled lime juice
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
Cayenne pepper (to taste)
Black pepper
Salt

Directions

Finely chop the onions and carrots and crush, grate or finely chop the garlic cloves.
Heat up the olive oil on low heat and add the cumin seeds. Cook until they start to pop and release a toasted aroma. This should take less than 30 seconds.
Add the onion and carrots and cook until the onion starts softening up.
Add the garlic and keep on cooking briefly, until fragrant.
Then add all of the seasonings and keep on cooking for a couple of minutes.
Add the canned tomatoes, vegetable stock cube and 400ml of water.
Turn the heat up to high, bring to a boil and then turn the heat right right back down to medium/low. Let it simmer until the tomatoes start breaking down, stirring from time to time. This should take about 20-25 minutes.
Once the tomatoes are mostly broken down, add the beans (along with the liquid of 2 out of 3 cans). Keep on simmering until the tomatoes are fully broken down and the sauce reduces.