Another meal we eat on cold winter nights is a hot bowl of chilli served with fresh tomatoes, coriander, avocado and corn chips. The recipe is a great leave-it-on-the-stove-to-cook with my feet up kinda dish. I used organic black beans, you could also use an organic 3-bean mix which includes black beans, pinto and red kidney beans.

You’ll notice there’s no chilli and black pepper in my black bean chilli, though I include a jalapeño for family and friends. This may seem strange because isn’t it a chilli? For health reasons, I don’t eat chilli because the capsaicin irritates my gut and swallowing even a tiny bit of chilli causes a burning sensation in my chest and upper abdomen. I avoid seasoning with black pepper because I’ve found using a little black pepper irritates my gut health. I’m just not willing to irritate my gut health by eating spicy foods, even with mild spices.

Health benefits:

·       Like other legumes, such as peanuts, peas, and lentils, black beans are prized for their high protein and fibre content. They also contain several other key vitamins and minerals that are known to benefit human health.

·       Black beans may help maintain healthy bones, ward off heart disease, manage diabetes, prevent cancer, aid digestion and help with weight loss.

·       Black beans contain around 114 calories per half-cup.

BLACK BEAN CHILLI

PB, V

1 onion, finely diced

1 jalapeño, deseed and finely chpd

1 red capsicum, diced

1 carrot, diced

pinch sea salt

1 garlic clove, finely sliced

1 tbsp (9 g) cumin powder

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chpd

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tbsp (30 g) tomato paste

400 g tin of black beans

400 g tin tomatoes

½ cup (120 ml.) vegetable stock

1 tbsp (11 g) coconut sugar

lime, juiced

Heat a large frypan on medium heat, it will be ready to use when a few droplets of added water bead and evaporate. Saute onion, capsicum, carrots and salt in a little olive oil for 8-10 minutes until tender. Add the garlic, cumin, jalapeño, rosemary, thyme leaves, tomato puree and cook a further minute. Add beans, tomatoes, vegetable stock and coconut sugar and bring to boil, then simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes until the chilli has a thick consistency. Add the lime juice and season with a little sea salt. Mash the chilli a little with a fork.

Serve in bowls with fresh tomatoes, coriander, avocado and non-GMO organic corn chips.