Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chilli

Serves: 4-5

Time: 50 minutes 

This is the perfect meal to batch cook ahead of time and make dinners/lunches easy during the week! It is such a delicious, hearty, and warming chilli, and packs in so much flavour. It is full of protein and fibre, and will keep you nicely full for ages. Definitely don’t skip the tahini, this really adds so much depth to the tomato sauce. I like to serve this up with some rice or grains, but equally you can eat it on its own as a complete meal. Enjoy! 

Ingredients : 

• 3 small sweet potatoes / 2 large 

• 1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed) 

• 2 bell peppers 

• 2 large handfuls of kale (chopped up and stalk removed) 

• 1 onion (diced) 

• 4 cloves of garlic chopped 

• 1 red chilli pepper chopped (seeds removed) 

• 1 400ml can of chopped tomatoes 

• 270g cherry tomatoes (sliced in half) 

• 1 325g can of sweetcorn (drained and rinsed) 

• 1 veg stock cube dissolved in 350ml water 

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil 

• Teaspoon of garlic powder 

• Teaspoon of smoked paprika 

• Salt & pepper 

• Teaspoon of cumin powder 

• Juice of 1 lime 

• 1 tablespoon of tahini 

• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste 

Cooking Steps: 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C and line a baking tray. 

2. Chop your sweet potatoes into small bite size chunks and place on baking trfay. Chop your peppers and place on baking tray also. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with cumin, garlic, salt and pepper. Toss to make sure all are coated evenly and place in oven for around 30 mins. 

3. While this is cooking, add a drizzle of olive oil and your chopped garlic cloves, chopped chilli pepper, and diced onion to a large pot over a medium heat. Season with smoked paprika. 

4. Continue to cook this until the onion softens, and if it catches at any point, add a splash of your dissolved veg stock water to loosen ingredients. 

5. Then, add your diced cherry tomatoes and mix it all around. Cook this for a further 1-2 minutes, before adding in your can of chopped tomatoes, drained black beans, tomato paste and the veg stock water. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. 

6. Once this has been simmering for around 20 minutes, add in your tablespoon of tahini and mix it all around. This adds lovely depth to the chilli. Squeeze in half of your lime at this stage.

7. Continue to simmer away until the water has reduced and it has thickened. Add in your chopped kale at the final stages and mix it all through over the heat until wilted. Also, add your tinned sweetcorn at the final stages over the heat. Add in your sweet potatoes and peppers from the oven once they are cooked, and mix it all together. 

8. Squeeze the remaining lime over it, season with salt and pepper, serve up, and enjoy!