Since I came back from my sunny holiday in Croatia I have been craving warm and comforting food. Autumn is definitely on its way here in London and nothing beat a filling stew when the weather gets chilli. I love tempeh so I wanted to try to use as a “vegan mince” as it’s super ealthy, packed with awesome plant protein and absorb very easily any flavours. The result is a super chunky, juicy chilli which I have got the feeling I will make it over and over again this autumn.
I have served it with short grain brown rice, fresh corn, avocado and plain coconut yogurt and I can honestly say it was heaven! If you can please don’t skip any of these components as they really bring the dish together!
Makes a nice large pot enough to feed 4 or plenty leftovers
Ingredients:
1 onion – finely sliced
1 carrot – finely choppe
1 sweet pepper – chopped into small pieces
3 garlic cloves
1 fresh chilli -finely chopped
About 200gr of cooked beans- I have used a combination of black and kidney beans- you can also use a can of already mixed beans
About 1/2 block of tempeh – 125gr roughly – if you cannot find tempeh you can also use frozen soy mince (like Quorn)
2 tbsp of tomato puree
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp of maple syrup or coconut sugar
2 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
Plenty of salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp of oil for frying (you can also use water instead
Serve it with:
Brown rice (my favourite is short grain)
Sweetcorn
Some sliced avocado ( highly recommended! Please don’t skip)
A dollop of unsweetened coconut yogurt (again highly recommended)
Start by preparing the tempeh. Simply place it in a pan and cover it with boiling water. Let it boil for 20 minutes. Then drain it. This will help to remove the slight bitterness of the tempeh
Add the oil to pan and add in the finely chopped onion and carrot. Fry for few minutes until the onion start to soften. Add in the crushed garlic and all the spices. Cook for another minute stirring continuously. Add in the chopped pepper, beans, tinned tomato and tomato puree. Mix everything well together. With your hands crumble the tempeh and add it into the pan. Add the maple syrup and give another good mix. Put the lid on and cook the chilli on a low heat for 30 minutes. Add in the salt and pepper (be generous) and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
While the Chilli is cooking I cook the brown rice and sweetcorn. If you are using sweetcorn I just steam it for 20 minutes and the slice the corn kernel off the cob.
Serve the cilli with some brown rice, the sweetcorn, some sliced avocado and a generous dollop of coconut yogurt. I also like to drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lime juice and some chilli flakes.
