🫘 Tomato-Free Chilli Con Carne
⏱️ Prep: 45m | ⏲️ Cook: 1h 25m
A mild, tomato-free chilli. The lentils and mushrooms build the deep, thick, savoury sauce the tomatoes used to.
Ingredients:
- 500g lean (5%) beef mince
- 1 tin (400g) red kidney beans, drained
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 red peppers, diced
- 150g mushrooms, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- Half a cup red split lentils
- 1 small cooked beetroot, grated
- 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil
- 6 spring onions, green tops only, sliced
- 2 cups low-salt beef stock
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- Half a tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp masa harina or fine cornmeal
- Smoked sea salt, to taste
- Rice and plain low-fat yoghurt, to serve
Instructions:
- Dice 2 onions and set them aside.
- Warm 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil in a large pan and brown 500g lean beef mince in two batches, about 5 minutes a batch, until it is properly dark. Most of the flavour comes from here, so don’t rush it. While it browns, dice 2 red peppers, finely chop 150g mushrooms and finely dice 2 carrots.
- Turn the heat down and soften the diced onions for 8-10 minutes, until translucent and sweet. While they soften, grate 1 small cooked beetroot and slice the green tops of 6 spring onions.
- Add the diced red peppers, the mushrooms and the carrots, and cook for 8 minutes, until the mushrooms have given up their water and start to catch on the pan.
- Stir in 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp ground coriander and half a tsp cinnamon, and cook for 1 minute.
- Add half a cup of red split lentils, the grated beetroot and 2 cups of low-salt beef stock.
- Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils have collapsed into the sauce. Put the rice on towards the end.
- Add 1 tin of drained red kidney beans and cook for a further 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle over 1 tbsp masa harina, stir it in well, and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Stir through the sliced spring onion tops and season with smoked sea salt to taste.
Note: Serve with rice and a spoonful of plain low-fat yoghurt. Freezes for up to 3 months.
Note: The beetroot is there for colour, not flavour, and it disappears into the sauce. The smoked sea salt is what makes it taste smoky, so don’t swap it for plain.