My Dad makes an amazing chilli con carne, and whilst I still do eat meat from time to time, lately I’ve been eating less of it.  I’ve recreated this vegetarian chilli loosely based on my Dad’s chilli con carne recipe and it has proved to be successful, even when given to meat eaters!

As the weather has suddenly turned colder this week I decided to make another batch of this and remembered how tasty it is so I knew I had to share the recipe with you all.

Try and cut up the vegetables roughly the same size so they cook in the same amount of time.

This tastes even better the following day or even 2 days later as the flavours really have a chance to develop.

Serves 5-6

Ingredients

-1 Tbsp. olive oil

-1 red onion, finely diced

-2 cloves of garlic, crushed

-2 carrots, peeled and diced

-large handful of mushrooms, cleaned and quartered or sliced

-1 red pepper, seeds removed and diced

-2 sticks of celery, sliced

-2 Tbsp. tomato puree

-2 red chillis, seeds removed and finely chopped

-1 tsp. ground cumin

-1 tsp. ground coriander

-1 cinnamon stick

-1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

-1 x 400g tin of mixed beans, rinsed

-1 x 400g tin of kidney beans, rinsed

-10g 80% dark chocolate (approx. 2 squares of Green & Blacks brand)

-salt & pepper to taste

How To Make

Place the oil in a large pan over a medium heat.  Once the oil is hot add the onion, celery and carrots and saute for 2-3 minutes.

Next add the chilli and garlic until they become fragrant then add the tomato paste and cook for a further 3 minutes, stirring often, you may need to turn down the heat as you don’t want the garlic to burn.

Next add the ground spices, stir and once they become fragrant add the tin of tomatoes and refill the tin with water and add that to the pan too.  Throw in the cinnamon stick and give everything a good stir.

Place a lid on the pan and simmer gently for an hour.

Once the hour is up, remove the lid, add the beans and chocolate and simmer, uncovered, for a further 20 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice, or as a topping for a baked potato!

This chilli stores well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer.

Enjoy 🙂