So I’ve been on a bit of a health buzz lately. One of the things I’ve been trying to do is cut down on the amount of meat in take week to week. I’ve tried substituting meat for vegetables in dishes like chicken fajitas and also vegetarian chilli con carne. I love regular chilli con carne but decided to mix it up and use vegetables instead of beef. The results were surprisingly positive. I’ll admit that I missed the texture of the beef a little bit but all in all, it’s still a nice dish and has made it onto my list of go to recipes for my regular week.

It’s surprisingly simple to make and can be frozen in batches so that you can reheat at a later date. The vegetables I use can be substituted for any other veg you want. I find this dish really handy for the end of the week when I’ve a few left over peppers or onions after a week of cooking.

I made burritos with my vegetarian chilli with a flour tortilla, a dollop of greek yoghurt, a small helping of rice, a little cheese and a generous portion of chilli. Delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 x Aubergines
• 2 x Bell Peppers
• 1 x Large Onion
• 3 x Carrots
• 1 x Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
• 400g of Passata
• 1 x Tin of Kidney Beans
• 2 x Cloves of Garlic
• 1 x Tablespoon of Chilli Powder
• 1 x Tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper
• 2 x Tablespoon of Cumin Powder

Method:

1. Dice the onion and garlic finely
2. Chop up the rest of your vegetables into small cubes
3. Heat some oil in a pot and fry the onion and garlic. Add the chilli, cayenne pepper and cumin.
4. Cook until the onion starts to soften
5. Add the peppers, carrots, aubergines and cook for a further 10 minutes
6. Add the tin of chopped tomato and the passata
7. Simmer for 5 minutes
8. Add the kidney beans and simmer for a further 5 minutes
9. Server with greek yoghurt, rice and mozzarella cheese