Easy vegetarian chilli

Rustle up our easy vegetarian chilli. It's a great recipe for batch-cooking – you can easily double it if you have a pan big enough, and freeze the rest

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed or finely grated
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 2 -3 tsp chilli powder (depending on how hot you like it)
• 2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 400 g can red kidney beans, drained
• 400 g can black beans, drained
• 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
• 400 ml vegetable stock
• cooked rice, grated cheddar and soured cream, to serve

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a low-medium heat and fry the carrots, celery, onions and mixed herbs for 10-12 mins, stirring occasionally until the veg is soft but not golden. You may need to add a splash of water if the veg starts to catch.
2. Stir in the garlic and both peppers, and cook for a further 5 mins until the peppers begin to soften. Sprinkle in the chilli powder and paprika, turn up the heat to medium, then stir and cook for 1 min. Mix in the tomato purée and cook for a further 1 min, then pour in all of the beans, the tomatoes and stock.
3. Stir well, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 25-35 mins until the beans are tender and the sauce has thickened. Serve with rice, grated cheddar and soured cream, if you like.