Chilli sin carne is the perfect, hearty fall/winter meal. This vegan version comes together in no time and is amazingly satisfying, full of slow carbs that will keep you going for hours. Easy peasy tortilla chips are nice and crispy and with a hint of spiciness they give a nice contrast the softness of the chilli.
When I was a kid, I used to love my mom’s chilli. She made it using onions, kidney beans and minced meat and loads, I mean LOADS of diced tomato and she would let the whole yumminess cook overnight. Next morning the chilli would be ready to be enjoyed: thick and lovely. We would eat it happily for the whole week. Slow-cooking gives chilli this amazing, deep and satisfactory flavour, that’s hard to get without hours of cooking.
Then again, I myself have 99% of the time no patience for such. I’m more of a “oh I’m hungry I need food right NOW” type of a person. Too bad I happen to love chilli as well. Hence, it was only natural for me to develop a solution to this ground-breaking issue, and oh yes: this chilli sin carne is amazingly fast to make and still full of flavor. It only takes around 30 minutes to prepare from beginning to end but of course you can let it simmer for as long as you like, giving the flavors time to deepen. But if you’re impatient like me, you can also just enjoy it pretty much immediately.
I believe the best way to enjoy chilli is with tortilla chips. They work like magic together! Crunchy and soft, spicy and sweet. Doing a healthy version of tortilla chips is super easy: did you know you can just re-use regular tortillas by chopping them into chips and baking in the oven and its just as good but like gazillion times better for you?! I know. It’s pretty darn mind-blowing.
And of course, this recipe is fully vegan as usual and can be gluten-free too: just use gluten-free tortillas for the chips. Anyway, without further ado, let’s get to the recipe! I hope you love it as much as I do.
- ½ Onion
- 2 Carrots
- 2-3 Garlic cloves
- 1 Fresh red chilli pepper (use ½ or ½ tea spoon of chilli powder if you want it to be milder)
- A handful of ripe cherry tomatoes
- 1 can (225g) of beans (bean mix or kidney beans)
- 1 can (300g) of finely chopped tomatoes
- 1 small can of corn
- 1 tablespoon of Mexican spice mix
- Oil for frying
- Salt to taste
- Fresh coriander, parsley or avocado for a fresh finish
- 4 tortillas
- 2 tablespoons of good quality oil
- Salt to taste (and Mexican seasoning if wanted)
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Dice the onions and carrots into small pieces so that they cook faster. Crush the garlic and finely shred the chilli. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
- Heat up a pan with a fair amount of oil and start cooking the onion along with the spices. Sweat the onion for 2-3 minutes after which, add the garlic, chilli and carrots.
- Sweat the ingredients for a couple more minutes and then add the beans, diced tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. Add a touch of water if necessary. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the chips. Cut the tortillas into triangles. Mix the tortillas with the oil and the seasoning in a bowl. Spread about half of the mix on a baking tray covered with baking paper and make sure that it isn’t too clumpy.
- Bake them for about 7 minutes, or until they have gained a nice golden brown color. Repeat the process with the other half of the mix. Let cool.
- Check the taste of your chilli and serve with fresh herbs, chips or guacamole.
- Use gluten-free tortillas if you wish.
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