3 Bean Chilli (5th February, 2008)

I was a bit dubious about this recipe as beans have never played a vital part of my diet. In fact, apart from baked beans I´ve never really experimented with beans until recently. However, as they are part of a healthy diet and also to make my diet more varied, I decided to try this slightly adapted recipe from Carnegie Cooks and found it to be a tasty alternative to a meat chilli although it was a bit on the mild side. I have made this recently and have improved the recipe so this is the updated version.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 red & 1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 14oz can chopped tomatoes
1 170g (6oz) can tomato paste
1/2 439g (15 1/2 oz) can black beans
1/2 439g (15 1/2 oz) can of chickpeas
1/2 439g (15 1/2 oz) can of red kidney beans
1 1/2 -2 tsp of chilli powder-put more if you like it very hot! ( I used just under 1tsp and found it too mild)
salt & pepper
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves (I reduced the amount of cloves as my boyfriend doesn´t like the taste of them)
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp of olive oil

Method
1. Drain beans, saving liquid to thin chilli if necessary.
2. Fry onions,garlic and peppers in olive oil until soft.
3.Add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, chilli powder, cinnamon, cumin & cloves. Cook slowly about 15 mins.
4. Add beans and cook another 15 mins on low heat. Add salt & pepper to season. Thin with bean juice or water, if necessary.
5. Serve hot with rice.

And there you have it! A tasty, filling and healthy meal for everyone to enjoy.