Veggie Mince Chilli

This 5-a-day veggie mince chilli recipe is easy to make and contains five portions of vegetables in each serving. We’ve added a couple of serving suggestions below depending on your dietary preferences.

Serving suggestions

If you divide the whole batch (as stated in the recipe below) into three portions, each of these servings will contain five portions of vegetables. It tastes delicious with rice.

If you divide the whole batch of veggie mince chilli into four portions, you could serve it with 100g of cauliflower rice and still get your five portions of vegetables. This could be a good option if you are on a low carbohydrate diet. It’s really easy to make the cauliflower rice. Simply grate around a third of a medium cauliflower to give you 100g. Then fry in a non-stick pan, with a touch of salt, for around 10 minutes. Stir frequently so the cauliflower doesn’t burn.

Key to success

Although this recipe is easy, there are few of things to keep in mind.

1. The first point is to cut all of your vegetables into fairly small pieces, as shown below. This helps to give a good consistency to your chilli.
2. Second is to cut and prepare all of your vegetables before you start cooking. It takes a little bit of time, but it’s worth the effort, as well as making the rest of the dish very easy to make.
3. When you are frying the mushrooms, make sure to cook out all of the water. Similarly when you add the soy sauce to the mushrooms, be sure to cook until it’s absorbed into the mushrooms. The soy sauce and mushrooms give the delicious umami / ‘meaty’ flavour to the dish.

5-a-day Veggie Chilli

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Equipment

• Large pan with lid
• Sharp knife
• Chopping board

Ingredients

  

• 1 large onion around 200g
• 250 g mushrooms around 200g when peeled and trimmed
• 2 sticks celery around 80g
• 1 large pepper around 160g
• 1/2 medium courgette around 100g
• 1 fresh chilli
• 3 cloves garlic
• 400 g tin of kidney beans around 240g when drained
• 400 g tin of tomatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin or ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tsp salt

Instructions

 

• Start by chopping all of your vegetables into small pieces. First chop the onion and keep on a plate, then chop the celery, garlic and chilli and keep them all together on another plate, then chop the peppers and courgettes and keep them on a plate, then chop the mushrooms and add them straight into your pan.
• On a medium heat, fry the mushrooms in a tablespoon of olive oil for 8-10 minutes until all of the water has been released from the mushrooms, and then cooks out and disappears.

  Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce to the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes until the mushrooms have absorbed the soy sauce. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.
• Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and add the onions. Fry for around 10 minutes until translucent, stirring often. Turn down the heat it they start to brown.
• Add the celery, garlic and chilli to the pan and fry on a medium heat for around 5 minutes. If the mixture is getting dry, add a tablespoon of water.
• Add the spices (smoked paprika, cumin (or ground coriander) and cinnamon) and around 5 tablespoons of water, stir, and cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes. Then add the tomato puree, stir and cook for a minute.
• Add the red peppers and courgettes, stir, then put the lid on the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 mins and replacing the lid.
• Then add the cooked mushrooms back to the pan and add the tin of tomatoes. Fill a third of the empty tomato can with water and add to the pan. Drain and rinse the can of kidney beans and add to the pan.
• Cook on low-medium heat for about an hour. Add a couple of teaspoons of salt and a pinch of pepper to taste. This tastes even better the next day, if you are able to make ahead of time and reheat.

Free Seasonal Fruit and Vegetable Chart

We have created a free Seasonal Fruit and Vegetable Chart to show when produce grown in the UK is in season. To receive your copy, please click here or the image below.