Chili con Veggie

Any variety of Chili is the ultimate freezer food as the flavours only get better with age. This version is way more healthy than a meaty one and is a definite crowd pleaser!

One of the benefits that I mentioned in my post about why I'm a midweek vegetarian is that it's generally cheaper to cook with vegetables than meat, and chili is prime example of that. The kidney beans and pearl barley together cost less than 90p. You'd have to get pretty poor quality meat to rival that price!

I sometimes like to use spring onions in addition to white onions as they pack a little more flavour. I only use the stalk part though and retain the greener half for salads.

I tend to cook a dish like this an a wide but shallow saucepan as it allows most of the extra water to evaporate out and leaves the chili with a thicker consistency. It also cooks the onions quicker as there is less competition for the hot base.

Once all your ingredients are in the pan it can look a little dodgy!

After the mushrooms have cooked down and the pearl barley has fluffed out it will look much more inviting. Pearl barley is something I have recently discovered and is fantastic. You can use it to make a risotto and is always good at bulking a soup or casserole. Also it is one of the cheaper grains, quinoa will cost you around £3 for 500g, pearl barley comes in at 55p.

I added a squidge of bbq sauce at the end to make the flavour more smokey. One of the best things about cooking your own food is that you get to choose how it tastes: is it not hot enough? Could it do with more salt? Whenever you're cooking make sure that you taste the whole way along so you are happy with the result.

RECIPE

Serves 6 

Ingredients:

1 chopped onion

2 spring onions (just the whiter stalk)

1 packet of passata, you could also use a tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of kidney beans

100g pearl barley

1 tsp crushed garlic, around 1 clove

1 stock cube

A handful or two of mushrooms (around 120g)

Half a chili, deseeded, or 1 tsp chili flakes

1 squeeze of tomato puree

1 squeeze bbq sauce

A couple of sprigs of coriander for garnishing (optional)

Method:

In a wide saucepan saute the onions with the garlic, chili and spring onions.

Add in the passata, kidney beans and pearl barley. Stir for a minute or two.

Fill the kidney bean tin with hot water (you may want a tea towel so you can handle the tin!) and tip into the dish. Sprinkle over a stock cube and add a big squeeze of tomato puree.

Tip in the mushrooms and allow to simmer for around twenty minutes (or until the pearl barley is tender).

Squeeze in the bbq sauce and taste before seasoning.

Serve with bulgar wheat or rice and garnish with the coriander.

As with the carrot and coriander soup  if you are planning on freezing a batch make sure that the chili is properly cold before putting it into the freezer.

How spicy do you make your chili? Let me know!