Vegan Chili Cheese

A deliciously hearty and warming all plant based chili.  This is an easy one pot meal to make full of protein packed beans and healthy vegetables.  I really didn’t miss the meat in this chili at all.  It was super filling and hit the spot for a cool evening. You can serve it on a baked potato or a bowl of rice.  I always like to add a sprinkle of cheese, sour cream and chopped onion to finish it off. You can buy great vegan cheese and butter, and even cream cheese these days and it was hard to tell the difference.  Of course if you’re not vegan then you can use all regular dairy ingredients.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 can kidney beans

• 1 can black beans

• 1 can tomatoes

• 1 onion chopped

• 1 red pepper deseeded and chopped 

• 2 cloves garlic chopped

• 2 cups / 200g chopped mushrooms

• 3 cups of vegetable stock

• 1 tsp ground cumin 

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• 2 tsp Mexican spice mix 

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp Salt and extra pepper for seasoning if you want. 

• 2 tsp agave syrup or maple, (or honey if your not vegan)

Extra to serve - a baked potato, vegan cheese, green onions, vegan butter, vegan cream cheese

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large pan on a low to medium heat, add the onions, garlic, paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, oregano and spice mix, cook for 2 minutes.  Add the chopped pepper and mushrooms and stir together and let the vegetables get soft, about 2-3 minutes then add the tomatoes, kidney and black beans, syrup and vegetable stock. 

Bring to the boil then leave to simmer on a low heat for 40-50 minutes, until all the vegetables and beans have softly cooked together. 

Add a pinch of salt and extra pepper if you want.  If you like it really spicy add a sprinkle of red pepper chili flakes. 

I like to serve this on either a baked potato with vegan cheese, vegan cream cheese and chopped green onions. Or rice is great too.