My First Chilli (vegan, lentil)

So I’ve never made a chilli before. I don’t know why. We never really did spicy food at home, and me and my mum can’t eat peppers, and frankly, if you’ve got a load of mince, why aren’t you making spaghetti bolognaise? Best food. So yeah, never had any kind of chilli, but I’m getting WELL into my lentils and chickpeas at the moment (file under: things you are not allowed to be excessively enthused about), and spotted this (which includes no bad peppers) in my new Bumper Veggie Cookbook and thought I’d give it a go. Turns out it’s like spicy, yummy bolognaise but with that awesome grainy texture you get from lentils. Yes I said awesome. Also massively cheap.

Here we go, ingredients (I left off the chopped tomatoes, but photoshopped in a flawless stand-in, as you’ll see).

As an aside, I’m just about old enough to have caught re-runs of the Young Ones, which is why I was surprised to find I liked lentils. I would be interested to see a mapping of public opinion on lentils vs that show’s popularity. I say I would be interested, but I’ve spent all day transcribing PhD interviews, so quite honestly I would be interested to see some moss right now.

Prep Time: 10 | Cook Time: 30 | Servings: 2 (this is a recipe for 6 scaled down, hence weird proportions)

Cook the onions until soft, add the coriander, cumin and paprika.

Combine the garlic, sun dried tomatoes, chilli, wine and stock and add to the pan. Cover & simmer for 5-7 mins. Uncover and simmer until the liquid has almost gone.

Stir in the lentils and tomatoes and season.

Simmer, uncovered, for 15 mins or until thick, add sugar to taste, remove from heat. Blend 1/4 of the mix, combine with the unblended mix.

Serve with yoghurt and rice. Sprinkle with a bit of parsley if you’re feeling fancy, like me.

FANCY.