There are loads of different versions of chilli – each one suitable for different dishes, tastes and seasons. This sweet potato veggie chilli is an easy all rounder that’s particularly good on baked potatoes. However it also goes well with wholemeal cous cous or brown rice as well. It’s solid, filling, nutritious and has no meat substitutes – jut good old fashioned veggies and beans. You simply can’t go wrong with it. This is based on the version they serve at Warmley Waiting Room.
It’s not too hot, but has loads of flavour. Just add a bit more chilli powder or fresh chillies if you like it with a bit more heat & ooomph. This version as written will suit most peoples palates unless they can’t abide chilli.
You can also add a variety of different beans – especially if you make a double quantity. Then you can use a mixture of kidney beans, black turtle beans, canelloni beans & borlotti beans all of which work well. I wouldn’t recommend adding butter beans as they are bit on the large side. Equally, flageolet beans are a little too delicate to work in this dish. While chickpeas are little too substantial and textured.
I generally like to make a larger quantity than I need, then portion up the rest to use later. Cook once – eat many times! A single quantity makes enough for around 8 to 10 servings with jacket potatoes.
As with all dishes, the size of the veggie pieces is critical to the right taste & mouthfeel. In this type of dish, around 1 to 2 cm sized pieces is good. With the beans, if using frozen beans, then freeze them with the cooking juice included. This helps to thicken the dish, and also contains a lot of nutrition.
Don’t skimp on the spices, and you’ll have a cracker of a dish that’s easy to make. This sweet potato veggie chilli goes beautifully with hummus (red pepper or standard) or my home-made garlic bread.
Sweet Potato veggie chilli for jacket potato or cous cous.
Equipment
- 1 Large pan
Ingredients
- 500 g sweet poatoes
- 2 whole medium peppers red, orange, yellow or green for a double quantity use all 4 colours
- 2 whole red or green chillies not too hot.
- 1 whole medium yellow onion 225-250g
- 2 cans chopped plum tomatoes 2 by 400g
- 2 cans beans - borlotti, kidney, black, canelloni 240 * 2 plus the juice
- 30 g corriander 1 bunch as sold
- 15 g raw garlic around 5 cloves
- 1 1/4 flat teasp cinnamon
- 1 1/4 flat teasp chilli powder not cayenne - it's hot without much flavour
- 1 1/4 heaped teasp ground cummin
- 50 g olive oil
- 20 g lemon juice half a lemon approx
Instructions
- If you're serving it with jacket potatoes - now is the time to scrub and put in the oven at 200°C - if reasonably small ones, they'll just about be ready when the chilli is! You can always speed them up by giving them 20mins in the microwave!
- scrub the sweet potatoes with a vegetable scrubbing brush and remove any bad bits. You may need to peel the bits where they're discoloured to see all the manky bits lurking underneath!
- Chop into fairly small pieces - around 1 to 2 cm put in a bowl and pour 25g of the oil plus a 1/4 teaspoon of each of the 3 spices and toss well so they are coated evenly with the oil and spices.
- Tip into a pyrex or other deep baking dish. They don't want to be too spread out but not too squashed together either. Bake at 180°C for around 35 mins - until tender - but not mushy - turning occasionally. Check to make sure they don't over brown.
- Chop the onions into 1cm sized pieces and begin sauteeing on a low heat in the rest of the oil.
- Slice the garlic and add - stirring occasionally
- Chop the peppers into 1.5cm (approx) pieces and finely chop the chillies - and add to the pan. Keep stirring.
- 5 mins after add the rest of the spices - chilli powder, ground cummin and cinnamon. At the same time, if you can be bothered, remove and chop the corriander stalks - otherwise chop it all and add in the final 5 minutes with the sweet potatoes.
- When the onions and peppers are softening nicely, add in the cans of tomatoes and various beans of your choice (juice included) and bring to a slow simmer - for around 25 to 30 minutes. Stir reasonably often and add a little water if it's sticking too much to the bottom of the pan.
- 5 mins before the end of cooking, add in the corriander and roasted sweet potatoes and mix in. Don't overdo the stirring or you will break up the sweet potatoes too much as they will be quite soft. Also add in a good squeeze of lemon to taste if you like a zesty finish to it.
- The jacket potatoes should be a lovely golden colour by now and perfectly ready.......
- Serve on, or with a well "buttered" baked potato or on a bed of freshly wholemeal cous-cous. See the notes on "the importance of wholegrains in healthy cooking" for full info on the method of cooking cous cous.
- It's even nicer with some grated vegan parmesan cheese and black pepper - plus a liberal dollop of hummus!
Notes
- you can add a courgette or carrot if you wish to add an extra dimension.
