A vegetarian on the Mexican classic – this lentil chilli packs all the flavour you want without the meat (in my opinion). I used dried green lentils but his will work with brown lentils or pre cooked ones from a can. It also freezes well if you want to make a bigger batch and goes well with chicken and fish if you opt out of the full no meat experience. I made this one into a shepherds pie with sweet and white potato layers, you can also add in additional beans such as borlotti or kidney.
Serves
4
Cooking time
1+ hour
Calories/Nutrition
200 calories per serving, 16g carb, 3g fat, 14g protein
Ingredients
olive oil
1 tbls cumin seeds (or ground cumin)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tbls tomato puree
100g dried green or brown lentils (soeaked over night for at least 12 hours) or 200g of cooked lentils
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
2 tsp smoked paprika
quarter tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp mexican chilli powder
1 tsp dried chipolte flakes
1 red pepper, fnely chopped
1 stock pot (or stock cube)
1 tablespoon, Butter
1 cup, peas or beans such as borlotti or kidney (or chickpeas)
30 ml, Worcester Sauce
1 tbsp, Soy Sauce
2 unit, Carrot (Large) finely chopped
200 g, Baby Plumb Tomatoes or tin of tomatoes
100 g, Chestnut Mushrooms finely chopped
Fresh coriander, chopped
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large casserole pan with the butter. Add the cumin seeds and fry for a few minutes. Then add the onions, carrot and pepper, turn the heat down and fry gently, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes until they are soft and starting to colour.
Add the mushrooms and tomato puree and fry for a further 5-10 mins before adding the garlic and spices, fry carefull for a couple of mins. Add the tomatoes, beans/peas lentils and stock with additional water to top up top up so there is enough liquid to cook the lentils if they were dried, you’ll need less if using pre cooked so just judge it by eye. Give it a good stir, bring to the boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for about 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, taste and add salt and pepper if you think it needs it. Just before serving stir though the chopped coriander. This will give you 4 servings which are roughly 200 calories each