One thing I learned (among many!) when having a baby, was that when someone has a baby and you go to visit them in the early days, bring food.
So many of my beautiful friends bought heat up dinners for the surfer and I, and when we had a baby who took the best part of three hours of rocking and dancing and rain dancing to get to sleep in the early days, and we were both utterly exhausted, meals beat presents hands down.
My sister-in-law just had a baby. Something in me has changed since I’ve had little missus, and although sometimes the days are long, and I dream of the night I don’t have to get up and trudge down the hall, all babies are just divine. I was so excited when this new little person was born, I was holding back tears of happiness as we were entering the hospital.
Anyway, we had a visit last week. I brought food. This recipe for chilli. I also gave some to my neighbour who has a little person the same age as our little missus.
This recipe is freezable, and is super versatile. You can serve it with rice (as we most often do), with corn/tortilla chips, in a wrap as a burrito, as a quesadilla or on nachos. Also, because the chilli is separate, it is perfect for little mouths too.
- ⅓ cup olive oil (plus some)
- 2 red onions
- 1.4L passata
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 tablespoon smokey paprika
- 1 teaspoon mild paprika
- 2 teaspoons white or apple cider vinegar
- 6 capsicum (peppers) - chopped into small chunks
- 6 400g tins mixed beans, drained
- 1 big bunch coriander - roughly separate the stalks and leaves
- 2 avocados
- 2 limes
- 5 cayenne chilli's
- Blitz the onion, spices, ⅓ cup olive oil, coriander stalks, paprika, vinegar and garlic in a food processor and then add to a large saucepan on low heat for approximately 5 minutes.
- Add the capsicum and stir to mix, then lightly fry for another five minutes.
- Add the water and passata, mix and then let simmer for approximately 30 minutes without a lid.
- Meanwhile, chop the chilli and lightly fry with a reasonable splash of olive oil (approx 1 Tablespoon) until it starts releasing it's juices and the olive oil changes colour. Set aside.
- Blitz the avocado, lime juice and coriander leaves together and also set aside.
- Once the mixture has simmered for approximately 30 minutes, allow it to further simmer for another 15 minutes but with the lid on and covered.
- Serve, adding the chilli, avocado salsa as desired.
If you are making this and giving some away, don't worry about the avocado going brown - the lime juice will keep it looking lovely and green.
If you are just making this for yourself and you are a chilli fiend, you can add this to the ingredients you blitz and fry first up. Feel free to also add more to the avocado salsa too.
Robyn xx
P.S. This recipe (plus four more) are included in my free ebook – Easy Peasy Vegan Dinners. They’re laid out in a super easy to print format, and they’re tried and tested to be totally yummy! Subscribe to receive it 🙂
