Lucky 7 Bean Chilli

The fridge is bare and I haven’t done a big shop for a while – too much time blogging, I think! So tonight calls for a real store cupboard supper, and what could be better than a beany chilli – surely far superior to any version with minced beef. Any readers out there with good chilli tips do let me know… I’m always keen to tweak recipes to make them even better. There are plenty of additions you could make: different spicing, smoked chillis, all of which would take this dish in a slightly different direction. In the meantime, this version is pretty good (more to the point it is what I had in stock) and works brilliantly with rice, a hunk of nice bread, or inside tortillas. I’d have added a square of dark chocolate if I hadn’t eaten it. Oops. This freezes well too.

Lucky 7 Bean Chilli (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, soya-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

• 1-2 onions, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, peeled ( a must!) and chopped
• 2 dried chillis
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 fresh chilli, chopped
• 8 mushrooms, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 glass wine
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tin borlotti beans
• 1 tin/pack mixed beans
• 1 tin sweetcorn
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• large dash of worcestershire sauce
• 1 tin balsamic vinegar
• large pinch oregano
• 1/2 tsp marmite (!)

-Sweat off the vegetable. When softened, add the garlic and dried chilli, cook out until fragrant.

– Stir in the spices and briefly cook out.

– Add the tomato puree, stir to coat the veggies, then add the wine. Deglaze the pan and reduce the wine until syrupy.

– Add the beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes. Plus 1/2 a tin of water.

– Stir in the seasonings, turn the heat down and cook for as long as possible (about 1 hour), making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan by stirring now and then.

– Check for seasonings, adding more salt, pepper, balsamic, worcestershire sauce as desired.

– Serve garnished with cheese (dairy-free if liked) and chopped coriander.