Hunk Food: Vegetarian Chilli

Yes, we love meat. But if you’ve accidentally spent your weekly budget on a new pair of shoes, you might find that eating meat every day to be a bit too much of a luxury. Besides, it’s been proven that we greedy humans eat way more protein than is actually necessary (if you’ve ever met a vegetarian, you’ve probably had that argument thrown at you), so think of not being able to afford meat as a good opportunity to give your body a good detox. Enter the vegetarian chilli. Made almost entirely from tinned foods, this is a hearty meal that will fill you up with sustenance and pride at having saved so much money.

What’s more, Sainsbury’s are currently doing four tins of beans for two pounds, so stock up like I did and keep the beans ready for a rainy/poor day. Beans might not be the most exciting sounding things, but this recipe makes enough for at least three batches, which means that for three days you can bean the money (see what I did there) without feeling guilty or hungry. And then you can buy another pair of shoes.

You will need:

–          1 tin kidney beans

–          1 tin cannellini/mixed/berlotti/any beans

–          ½ cup peas (you could substitute with tinned sweetcorn)

–          1 tin chopped tomatoes

–          2 cloves garlic

–          One large onion

–          1 teaspoon chilli powder/ chilli flakes

–          2 teaspoons smoked paprika (this is optional, but I use it quite a bit if I’m cooking anything Spanish/ Mexican so it’s a solid investment, and £1.19 in Sainsbury’s

How to make:

1. Chop up the garlic and onions and fry. Drain your beans, but keep a little of the liquid (you can buy tinned beans in a chilli sauce, so if you’ve bought these obviously don’t chuck away the sauce)
2. Add the beans.
3. If you’re eating with rice, start boiling the kettle for the water.
4. After a few minutes, add the tomatoes, chilli and smoked paprika. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer away. (Did I mention this recipe was ridiculously easy?)
5. In the last few minutes, add the peas.
6. Serve up!

Top tip! If you get bored of chilli and rice, heat up a tortilla wrap in a frying pan and some chilli mix in the microwave for a few minutes. Put the mix onto the middle of the wrap, grate some cheese and wrap up to make a chilli burrito.