The Perfect: Vegetarian Chilli

Hi, this recipe is from the Guardian's special edition 'Feast: The Perfect...Vegetarian' page 14 by Felicity Cloake, or find online here. 

This chilli was super tasty and was really easy to make as well. I didn't have any of the dried chillies that the recipe stated so I just added chilli powder. This was a decent substitute but I think it would taste even better with the actual chillies in it. Also, I only used one type of beans (cannellini) but my Dad said he would prefer it with two different types of dried beans. So, you can decide what you want to do with that.

I served this dish with rice, but it would also go nicely with a pitta bread, on a wrap (with rice like a burrito), with tortilla chips, in a taco shell or with some cornbread. My family added some cheese and plain yogurt to it as well. 

Lastly, I would recommend either making this the day before you want to eat it or at the start of the day because that way it gets longer for the flavours to develop and ultimately it will taste better. You can also freeze any leftovers you have too.

Enjoy!

Hazel :)

***

***

Dietary Info:

-Main Meal

{If served with rice, wraps, cornbread, potatoes etc...}

-No Nuts

-Gluten Free

-Dairy Free

-Vegan

-Vegetarian

Prep 20 min, plus overnight soaking

Cook 2+ hrs, depending on beans

Serves 4

Ingredients:

-250g dried beans of your choice – I like black and kidney {I used dried cannellini beans, but I would recommend a mix of dried beans. If you only have tinned, the slow cooking will overcook them so you could slow cook the sauce and in the last few minutes before serving, add the beans in. However, doing this you will have to keep an eye on the sauce and not reduce it too much.}

-1 small hot chilli (eg, arbol or cascabel) {Both of these chillies need to be dried.}

-4 fruity chillies (eg, ancho, mulatto or pasilla, or a mixture thereof) {I had none of these fancy chillies, and I just used about 1 tbsp of hot chilli powder. However, it could definitely have been spicier with what I did, so I recommend that you do invest in the chillies as I think it would make this dish even nicer.}

-1 chipotle or 1 tbsp smoked paprika {I had to use normal paprika, not smoked.}

-2 tbsp oil {I used extra virgin olive oil.}

-1 onion, peeled and finely chopped {Red or brown works fine here - I used brown. You could also use shallots.}

-1 green pepper, seeded and fairly finely chopped {Any colour will be fine, green is the most bitter pepper, but it doesn't make that much difference.}

-2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed {I used 4 garlic cloves because mine were tiny!}

-1 tsp ground cumin

-1 tsp ground coriander

-1 tsp Mexican oregano (or marjarom or verbena, or normal oregano, in which case use a little less) {I used dried, normal oregano.} 

-1 tbsp Marmite

-1 x 400g tin {chopped} tomatoes

-250ml coffee {This is about one mugful.}

-1 tbsp masa harina or cornflour {I didn't need this as the sauce was already thick enough from the slow cooking.} 

Method:

1: {You might want to rinse the beans before soaking as well, like you would with rice.} Soak the beans in plenty of cold water for at least eight hours. {I soaked mine over night and you really do need lots of water. When you drain them before cooking, save the water you soaked them in so you can use it in the sauce.}

2: Boil the kettle. Remove the stalks and seeds from the dried chillies, then toast them in a hot, dry frying pan, turning regularly, until blackened all over. Put in a small heatproof bowl, add enough boiling water just to cover, leave to soak and soften for five minutes, then whizz to a puree.

3: Heat the oil in a large lidded casserole dish over a medium heat, then fry the onion and pepper until soft. {Add some salt and black pepper too.} Add the garlic, fry for another minute, then add the dry spices and oregano, and fry until aromatic, stirring so it doesn’t catch and burn. {You may need to add a little extra oil as there's a lot of dry spices going in.}

4: Stir in the chilli paste, Marmite, tomatoes, coffee and drained beans, bring up to a simmer, then turn down the heat, cover the pan and leave to cook gently until the beans are tender and the sauce has thickened to your liking – how long this takes will depend on the type, size and age of your beans (mine took four hours, but they were ancient) {Mine were new and they took about an hour and a half.}. If at any point the contents of the pot look at risk of being too dry, add water, as necessary. {This is where you can add the water you soaked the beans in. This doesn't improve flavour or anything, it's just to save water.}

5: Stir in the masa, bring to a simmer, season to taste and serve or, ideally, leave overnight and reheat gently. {I made mine at the start of the day and just reheated it at the end, so it had a bit of time where it was left.}

While you're here...

I have a Pinterest for all my recipes, where you can save them to boards for the future and categorise them into different types of recipe e.g Sunday Dinners, picnic ideas etc. My account is @hazellikestocook, or find the link below. Also, I have a whole blog post explaining this in more detail here and https://hazelscookingandbakingblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/pinterest.html. 

https://pin.it/5xDvARk - my profile

This recipe:

https://pin.it/1KDYXQf