Blackbean chilli

It has been another quiet weekend over here and even the work weeks haven’t been quite as hectic lately. I went to the office on one day this week and felt like I didn’t get any work done while I was there. I was also exhausted when I got home. It’s weird how I think that I work much more when working from home. I have less breaks and I’m more available to reply to calls and emails. Does anyone else have similar feelings?

On the other hand the time for commuting is saved, so more potterings at home can be done. I’m cooking a lot, but mainly comfort food and I should start putting the balconies into spring shape. It still snowed briefly yesterday, so it’s not warm here yet, hence the gardening is not calling me so much yet.

A chilli is a nice weekday dish. I really haven’t made vegan chilli for a long time and I’m not sure why, as it’s always a treat. This one was just a basic black bean and bell pepper chilli served with basmati rice. What is your favourite plantbased chilli?

Your VegHog

 

Chilli and nachos

And so the comfort food theme continues... The weather is getting colder over here and the nights are dark, so naturally I crave for warming food. A good old bean and sweetcorn chilli is always nice in these occassions. I served it with cheesy tortilla chips for ultimate comfort on a cosy film night at home.

I hope you've all had a really nice weekend. It was rainy here today, so I just went to town briefly and already bought some Christmas wrapping papers and small bits and bobs. Oh yes, I am ready for the season! I would like to put my Christmas lights up very soon, but maybe I'll wait just a bit more. At least I can already light plenty of candles in the evenings.

Have a good week!

Your VegHog

Quinoa chilli with rye crisps

It was nice to see how positively people took my moving news. It's good to have some support in difficult times, as there will be so much to do and so many new things to learn. Let's hope that this will be my last big move, as I quite would like to stay in Denmark, but only time will tell.

I have a few recipes for you before I go, and I try to get these posts ready. Today's recipe is for quinoa chilli served with rye crisps. It's quite a basic chilli with roasted peppers, fava beans and nice spices. The main difference is that I decided to serve it with quinoa, which worked really well with it and made a nice change.

Quinoa chilli with rye crisps

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

1 yellow bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

Olive oil

1 cup cooked fava beans

1 tsp smoked chilli paste

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cumin

Sprinkle of salt

3 tbsp tomato purée

Rye crisps

Method

Cook the quinoa in water until done.

Cut the peppers into generous chunks and roast them in the oven.

Chop the onion and garlic and cook them in olive oil until soft.

Add the fava beans and spices to the pan followed by the tomato purée and the roasted peppers.

Then also add the quinoa to the chilli and serve.

Have a nice week!

Your VegHog

Rainbow chilli plate

This rainbow chilli plate was so nice and colourful and a joy to eat. It can be made fully vegan or with optional cheese and cottage cheese or sour cream served on the side. I just made a fairly basic tomato and black bean chilli for the protein and served some roasted bell peppers, yellow rice, lime-chilli-coriander salsa and blue maize tortilla chips on the side. It was wonderfully tasty and made me smile. Every dish should be like this! 

Here is what my Rainbow chilli plate consisted of:

Tomato and black bean chilli

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 chilli

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 can / 240 g black beans

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp sea salt

1 can / 400 g chopped tomatoes

1 tsp smoked chilli paste

Roasted bell peppers

2 bell peppers (orange & yellow)

Vegetable oil for roasting

Yellow rice

½ cup basmati rice

1 small can / 140 g sweetcorn

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

Lime-chilli-coriander salsa

Juice of 1 lime

1 green chilli

1 small garlic clove

½ tsp sea salt

Blue maize tortilla chips

Have a great week!

Your VegHog

Spaghetti squash chilli with nachos

I thought another squash dish would be suitable for this season. I was going to make some Halloween themed post, but I'm not sure, if I'll manage with a busy weekend ahead. I've already seen several Halloween recipes by my blogger colleagues, and they all look cute and creepy at the same time. This dish that I cooked now doesn't look special, but it could be a good dish for this weekend nevertheless.

Spaghetti squash is a funny one to cook. I think it's pretty much at its best when roasted and then pulled into the spaghetti like strings. In this dish I combined roasted spaghetti squash with a black bean and sweetcorn chilli. The dish would be vegan, if you substitute the cheese on the nachos or skip it fully. The dish is also very tasty as fully vegan.

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash

Olive oil

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

2 small chillies

240 g / 1 can black beans

140 g / 1 small can sweetcorn

200 g tomatoes

Ground cumin to taste

Ground coriander to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

2 tsp smoked chilli paste

1 tbsp tomato purée

Splash of liquid aminos

1 tsp cocoa powder

Serve with:

400 g nachos

150 g grated Cheddar and Mozzarella

Method

Cut the spaghetti squash in half, brush with olive oil and roast in the oven until soft.

Prepare the rest of the chilli in the meanwhile by simmering all chilli ingredients together. Season the chilli to taste.

Once the squash is roasted, pull the flesh out with a fork and mix it into the chilli. I left some over to put as decoration on the top, otherwise the squash becomes quite invisible.

Heat up some nachos in the oven covered with cheese and serve them with the chilli.

Enjoy and have a good weekend!

Your VegHog

Crushed roast potato and sweetcorn tortillas

I woke up into sunshine and quite a warm weather, which was really delightful for a Saturday. At this point it seems as if it could get the warmest day of the summer here so far. I'll soon be heading out, but before that I want to share my crushed roast potato and sweetcorn tortilla recipe with you. I really adore roasted corn and potatoes and I added smoked chilli paste seasoned black beans to these, so good!

Ingredients

2 corn cobs

400 g new potatoes

Rapeseed oil

Salt

Smoked paprika

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

100 g tomatoes

1 can black beans

2 tsp smoked chilli paste

Fresh coriander

Grated Cheddar

Chilli mayo

8 wholemeal tortillas

Method

Brush the corn cobs and new potatoes with rapeseed oil and roast in the oven. Also sprinkle some salt and smoked paprika over the potatoes. I normally roast corn cobs under foil and finish under the grill.

Chop the onion, garlic and tomatoes finely and start cooking the onion in oil. Once slightly browned, add the garlic, soon followed by the tomatoes and black beans.

Let simmer and season with the smoked chilli paste and fresh coriander.

Once the corn cobs are roasted, cut the corn off the cobs. And once the potatoes are roasted, crush them slightly by pressing with a fork.

Assemble all components onto tortillas and serve them with grated cheddar and chilli mayo.

Enjoy!

I'm sharing the recipe with this month's My Legume Love Affair hosted by Kalyani from Sizzling Tastebuds.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Chilli cheese macaroni bites

I've been ordering deep fried macaroni cheese bites in pubs and cafés whenever they've been available, as I really adore them as a snack. When I saw the cooking video How To Cook Deep Fried Mac and Cheese Balls by Gran Luchito on YouTube, I think I just stared at it with my mouth open, as I knew that I had to try to make them as soon as possible. I really wanted to try a spicier version of the usual macaroni cheese bites and this seemed like the perfect recipe. The video shows in a nice and colourful way how to make this dish. Gran Luchito's smoked chilli paste adds such a nice smoky spiciness to these bites. However you can probably substitute it with another smoked chilli paste, if you like.

I only watched the video for guidance and didn't read their written recipe. Therefore mine is slightly different. My partner does not like milk, so I used vegetable stock instead and I also used wholewheat gomitini as the pasta. These turned out really good, a bit naughty of course, as deep fried. Here is my take on the chilli cheese macaroni bites.

Ingredients

2 cups wholewheat gomitini

25 g butter

3 tbsp spelt flour

2 tsp smoked chilli paste

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder + 100 ml water

200 g grated cheddar

2 eggs

2 cups breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Cook the pasta in water.

Melt the butter in a pan and cook the finely chopped garlic cloves in there. Add the spelt flour and smoked chilli paste and stir for a couple of minutes to make a paste.

Add the vegetable stock and cheese and stir into an even paste. Also add the pasta into the mix and let cool.

Shape bites/balls from the pasta mix and roll them in beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.

Deep fry the bites in hot vegetable oil.

Enjoy them with a spicy ketchup.

I thought that it would be nice to share this recipe with July's Pasta Please! cooking challenge about all sorts of pasta dishes. This certainly is a bit different pasta dish to my usual ones. The event is hosted by Chris from Thinly Spread and co-hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes.

Your VegHog

Chilli sweetcorn fritters

How has your week started? My Monday was fine, possibly better than usual, but I'm now happy to be able to relax a little with some blog writing. To spice up your Monday I bring you spicy chilli sweetcorn fritters. They contain sweetcorn, pepper, chilli and smoked chilli paste with some seasoning. I used an egg and spelt flour for binding. These fritters held together very well during the frying and were nice and firm in the end. I enjoyed them with black bean rice and some chipotle ketchup. I thought that these were quite nice summer fritters.

Recipe for about 8 fritters

Ingredients

140 g sweetcorn

1 romano pepper

1 green chilli

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

1-2 tsp smoked chilli paste

Sprinkle of smoked paprika

Sprinkle of salt

1 egg

3 tbsp spelt flour

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Chop the romano pepper, chilli, onion and garlic finely and quickly fry them in olive oil until softened.

Mix the sweetcorn, smoked chilli paste and seasoning in and let cool.

Add the egg and spelt flour and heat vegetable oil in a pan.

Shape fritters from the mix and fry them on both sides until golden brown.

Remove any excess oil with a kitchen towel.

Enjoy in whichever combination you like!

Your VegHog

Bean and sweetcorn nacho bake

Oh bliss, it's a long weekend and the weather seems to be fairly okay so far. I'm happy and have nice plans for the weekend, which will probably be revealed here later. But first I want to share a recent recipe of mine with you, which is another way to eat a vegetarian chilli and nachos. I baked the chilli with cheese and some nachos and served it with even more tortilla chips. This was a very nice dish, especially for a film night or Nordic noir night in my case.

Ingredients

1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

1 romano pepper

Olive oil for frying

1 can black beans

1 can sweetcorn

Ground cumin to taste

Ground coriander to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

300 g organic peeled tomatoes

½ cup dried soya mince

Fresh coriander leaves to taste

1 lime's juice

175 g tortilla chips

250 g grated cheese

Sour cream to serve

Method

Fry the chopped onion, garlic and romano pepper in olive oil for a while. Add the black beans and sweetcorn. Season and add the tomatoes and let simmer.

Prepare the soy mince separately as per instructions and add it to the mix as well. Season with fresh coriander leaves and lime juice.

Place the chilli in an oven dish or several smaller ramekins. Put some tortilla chips around the edges and cover with grated cheese.

Bake at 200 C for about 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and the bake looks nice.

Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips on the side and enjoy!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your VegHog

Mexican spaghetti

Oh how I loved this Mexican style spaghetti! I just wanted to make a chilli style sauce to be served with pasta and some tortilla chips on the side, and I really loved the combination I ended up with. There was a crunch from the tortilla chip, softness from the pasta and spiciness from the sauce – a nice combo!

I can't wait to make this again when I'll get the chance. Here's the recipe, if the idea tickled your fancy as well. You can also easily veganise this recipe by substituting the cheese and sour cream and by using vegan pasta.

Ingredients

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

1 red bell pepper

2 red chillies

1 tbsp vegetable oil

140 g sweetcorn

240 g black beans

5 large vine tomatoes

½ cup dried soya mince

Ground coriander to taste

Ground cumin to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

Smoked chilli paste to taste

4 tbsp tomato purée

Fresh coriander

1 lime's juice

Spaghetti

Grated cheese

Sour cream

Tortilla chips

Method

Chop the onion, garlic, bell pepper and chillies and start cooking them in vegetable oil.

After they have softened, add the sweetcorn and black beans followed by the chopped vine tomatoes.

Prepare the soya mince separately according to the instructions on the packet and add it to the pan.

Add the seasoning to the vegetables, stir through and let simmer.

Cook the spaghetti in water until al dente.

Serve the spaghetti with the sauce, cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips on the side.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Crispy chilli cups

How about serving nice vegetarian chilli cups as a weekend snack? The cups are made from tortillas and filled with black bean, sweetcorn and soya mince chilli. I found these to be excellent snacks.

This recipe is for a quite large serving batch of these cups, but please feel free to scale down for a smaller batch. You can also always keep the rest of the chilli as it is and only make a few cups.

Ingredients

½ cup dried soya mince

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

1 small chilli

2 bell peppers

500 g tomatoes

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp paprika

240 g / 1 can sweetcorn

240 g / 1 can black beans

1 tsp cocoa powder

4 tbsp tomato purée

Fresh coriander

100 g grated cheddar

4 tortillas

Method

Cook the soya mince according to the instructions on the packet. Chop the onions, garlic cloves, chilli, bell peppers and tomatoes.

Heat the vegetable oil and cook the onions, garlic, chilli and peppers for a few minutes. Add the soya mince to the pan a fry a little. Then add the ground coriander, cumin and paprika followed by the beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes. Also add the cocoa powder tomato purée. Let simmer under the lid and stir occasionally. Mix some fresh coriander leaves into the chilli.

Cut each of the tortillas into four even pieces and put them into a muffin baking tin. Fill them with the chilli and cheese and bake in the oven until the tortilla is crispy and the cheese has melted.

Enjoy and have a good weekend!

Your VegHog

Enchiladas with soya mince, sweetcorn and black bean chilli filling

Don't mind if I do have some lovely Mexican food, as I often do. This time I made these enchiladas filled with spicy soya mince, sweetcorn and black bean chilli. That is quite a basic mix for me and I really enjoy it, as it's such a comforting dish especially at this time of the year.

Ingredients

½ cup dried soya mince

1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

1 small chilli

1 romano pepper

500 g tomatoes

240 g / 1 can black beans

240 g / 1 can sweetcorn

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cocoa powder

Fresh coriander

4 tbsp tomato purée

100 g grated cheddar

8 tortillas

Method

Prepare the soya mince as described on the packet and fry it for a while in oil.

Chop the onion, garlic and chilli finely, also chop the romano pepper and tomatoes into cubes.

Start cooking the onion, garlic and chilli in olive oil, after a while add the romano pepper followed by the beans and sweetcorn.

Season with ground coriander, ground cumin and paprika.

Add the tomatoes and simmer under lid until you have a nice hearty mixture.

Then add the cocoa powder, fresh coriander and the soya mince.

Wrap the filling into tortillas, place them into an oven dish, cover with cheese and bake until golden brown.

I also served them with spicy chilli paste for some extra heat.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog