Vegan Chilli Sin Carne

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 Yellow Capsicum

1 Red/Green Capsicum

1 Large Brown Onion

500gm field brown mushrooms

Cumin Seeds

Cinnamon

Himalayan Sea Salt

Freshly Ground Black Peppercorns

3 Large Kumara (Sweet Potatoes)

1 250gm Can Black Beans

1 250gm Can Chickpeas

Smoked Paprika

Olive Oil

2 Garlic Cloves

700ml bottle Passata (tomato puree)

2-3 Fresh Chillies

250gm tinned tomatoes

Fresh Coriander (a decent handful, incl. stalks)

Tumeric

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

2. Dice kumara into pieces slightly larger than bite size, placing pieces into oven proof dish. In a separate bowl, combine approx. 1 tsp. each of paprika, cinnamon, salt, pepper, turmeric. Sprinkle spice mix over the diced kumara. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat and set inside the oven to bake for approximately 40mins, or until soft and golden.

3. Roughly chop the onion, garlic, capsicum & mushrooms. Pick the coriander leaves and put aside, then finely chop the stalks. Finely chop the chillies. Deseed if you prefer less intense heat – I don’t deseed the chillies we get here in New Zealand at the supermarket because they’re not very hot.

4. Place a large pan over a medium-high heat and add a couple lugs of olive oil. Add the onion, capsicum and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion is glassy. Set aside mushrooms.

5. Add the coriander stalks, chilli and cumin seeds (approx. 1 tbsp.) and cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until softened, stirring every couple of minutes.

6. Drain the beans & chickpeas, then add to the pan, along with the tinned tomatoes & passata. Stir well and bring to the boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat and leave for 25mins, or until thickened.

7.  Stir in the roasted kumara, chopped mushroom and most of the coriander leaves. You may at this point also want to further season with salt & pepper.

Before serving, scatter the remaining coriander leaves over the top. Octo-lacto vegetarians might want to top with cheese and sour cream and serve with tortilla chips. I ate mine with some crusty bread and a bit of dairy-free margarine. It’s delicious!