Quorn Chilli Con Carne

Good Morning everybody, did you all manage to have a nice Christmas? I know quite a few people had to change their plans at the last minute because of COVID, but hopefully, they managed to do something to enjoy the day at least a little bit. Unfortunately, my mum and I were really poorly over Christmas (tested and not-COVID related thankfully), just very sick and unable to get out of bed most of the time, still unwell at the moment but not as bad as before. Luckily we were well enough to go to my nephew’s birthday party, which was really fun. I can’t believe he’s a year old now, it only seems like yesterday that he was a tiny little baby, he’s grown so much within the past year. We all took quite a few pictures to remember the day, especially so Isaac (my nephew) can look back at them when he’s older! Anyway, moving on to today’s post…

As it’s really cold here in the U.K and none of us have much energy to stand for too long to cook, I thought I would share with you a quick and easy recipe that is the perfect blend of keeping you warm whilst also being one of the best comfort foods and a lot of peoples favorite meal for an added bonus! As I’m a Vegetarian, the recipe I’m sharing with you uses Quorn Mince, but you can alter it and swap it with Beef Mince if you’re a meat-eater, just make sure you follow the instructions on the packaging on how to cook it. Let’s get on with the Quorn Chilli, shall we…

Quorn Chilli Con Carne

Ingredients:

• 300g Quorn Mince
• 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1 Medium Onion, diced
• 1 Red Pepper, diced
• 2 Fresh Red Chillies, diced
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
• ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
• 2 tsp Ground Cumin
• 3 tsp Ground Coriander
• 1 tsp Chilli Powder (optional depending on your heat preference)
• 400g Can Chopped Tomatoes
• 500ml Tomato Passata
• 1 tbsp Tomato Puree
• 1 Vegetable Stock Cube
• 400g Can Kidney Beans, drained
• 1 tsp Brown Sugar or 1 Small Cube Plain Chocolate (optional)
• Salt to taste (optional)
• 1 Large Bunch of Fresh Coriander Leaves, finely chopped

Method:

Preheat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for 5-6 minutes or until beginning to soften.

 Add the red pepper and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add the chilies, garlic, and spices and cook for a further 2 minutes stirring continuously

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, passata, tomato puree and crumble over the stock cube and bring to a gentle simmer for 8 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Stir in the kidney beans, sugar or chocolate if using and Quorn Soy Free, Meat Free Mince, cook over a gentle heat for a further 10 minutes. Season to taste

Stir in the chopped coriander and serve with rice, jacket potatoes or with nachos

Enjoy!

I hope this warms you up, especially with the temperature forever dropping. You can adapt the spice level to your own satisfaction if you want it a bit spicier or milder depending on how hot you like it.

Before I finish this post and say bye until next week, I just want to say I hope this year proves to be a better one for you, for me, for all of us, as the past couple of years have not been kind and we deserve to have some happiness again, which is why I’m going to try my hardest to follow my dreams to accomplish what I’ve been holding myself back from doing. For now though, I am going to say I hope you have a lovely week, and I shall.see you next Wednesday! 😃