Cheap-as-chips chilli

People have been making meals for very little money for probably as long as money has existed. But it seems to be only recently that the idea of frugal food has made it into television programmes and cookbooks and newspaper columns.

This chilli is something I've been making on and off for years, in slightly different incarnations. As always, it depends on where you buy your ingredients from, but I costed this at about 40p a portion.

At the moment I'm using dried and soaked kidney beans rather than tinned ones. I think the texture is slightly better and they work out cheaper as well, although to be honest it's only worth soaking and boiling kidney beans if you're going to cook a fair amount of them. I usually cook a 500g bag at a time - you can then make a huge batch of chilli and freeze some of it, or you can freeze the cooked beans on their own and use them for something else if you prefer. I've also taken to adding carrots and a bit of extra onion - this doesn't increase the cost much and helps towards getting your 5-a-day.
 
Feel free to adjust the recipe according to taste or what you have to hand. If you are short on spices you don't have to use all of them - it should still taste fine with only one of the coriander or cumin, or just with chilli and smoked paprika, although then you might want to bump the quantities up a bit.

Shopping tip: I find Asian supermarkets to be a good place to buy dried kidney beans. I get packets of spices there too, which are usually much cheaper than the kind in jars (I save my old jars to decant the new spices into). The cheapest tinned kidney beans I've found are in Lidl.

Makes 8 portions. Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

500g dried kidney beans, soaked overnight
2 tsp vegetable oil
4 onions, chopped
4 carrots, cut into small dice
2 peppers, any colour, roughly chopped or sliced (optional)
2 whole hot chillis, chopped finely, including seeds, or 2 tsp chilli powder (not the mild type)
1-2 tsp smoked paprika (optional, or you can use normal paprika)
1-2 tsp ground coriander
1-2 tsp ground cumin
3 tins chopped tomatoes

Method

Drain the soaked kidney beans and cover them in fresh water in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and boil fairly hard for ten minutes, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 45-60 minutes or until the beans are tender.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in another large pan and add the onions, carrots, and peppers, if using. Cook over  a medium heat for five minutes, stirring regularly. Add the chilli and other spices and cook for another minute.

Add the tinned tomatoes, and cook for ten minutes. If the beans are not yet cooked, turn off the heat under the tomato and vegetables and continue when the beans are ready.

Drain the cooked beans. I like to mash half of them so you get a nice thick texture to the chilli. Stir them into the tomatoes and vegetables. Simmer on a low heat for a further 10-20 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked to your liking.

Serve with brown rice or as a jacket potato topping.

Any leftovers can be reheated and will taste even better the next day.