Nagi Maehashi, founder of international phenomenon Recipetin Eats, is famous for creating recipes that work. Not only are her instructions written so even the most amateur home cook can follow, but they anticipate and answer every question you might have: what curry powder to use, where to find a certain ingredient or what to do if your recipe isn’t turning out quite right. For instance, in this gloriously cheesy recipe for black bean chilli, she tells you in the notes precisely why you need to keep the dish on the stove to thicken it up before sliding it into the oven, and shares an array of spice substitutions.
The chilli recipe is from Maehashi’s latest book, Tonight, which anticipates another question you might have: what should I cook for dinner? Her answer is any one of 150 recipes that won’t chew up all your time and which offer easy ingredient swaps so you can use what you already have in your cupboard. Her oven-baked satay chicken removes skewers from the equation for extra ease, while her Korean-style kimchi noodles recipe suggests extra gochujang if you want to dial down the heat.
Back to the chilli. It was born from a question Maehashi asked herself: “What would happen if I made my chilli con carne using cans of black beans hiding in the back of my pantry instead of beef mince?” This is the result.
“These earthy beans marry with the richly spiced chilli sauce like soulmates from birth,” she writes. “The whole thing is topped with a blanket of cheese to make everything better and then baked. Serve the chilli with corn chips or warm tortillas for dunking and scooping. Otherwise it’s perfect over rice and pasta, or stuffed into jacket potatoes and big soft rolls as sloppy joes. Have black beans ever sounded so damned fabulous?”
This dish will last in the fridge for four days and can be frozen for up to three months. Be sure to consult the notes at the bottom before you get going.
Recipetin Eats’ black bean chilli
Serves 5
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
½ brown onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tsp dried oregano
½ red capsicum, deseeded and chopped into 1cm squares
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup (250ml) low-salt vegetable stock
400g can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp cooking salt
1 tsp white sugar
2 x 400g cans black beans, drained
2 cups (200g) shredded Colby cheese
SPICES
1 tsp cayenne pepper (reduce for less spicy; see note 1)
1 tsp garlic powder (see note 1)
1 tsp onion powder (see note 1)
3 tsp smoked paprika (or ordinary paprika)
2 tsp ground cumin
TO SERVE
Sour cream or plain yoghurt
Corn chips, warmed tortillas, rice, cooked pasta, pita pockets, soft rolls or baked potatoes
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).
Heat the oil in a 26cm cast-iron frying pan or large ovenproof pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and oregano and cook for 2 minutes. Add the capsicum and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the colour of the tomato paste becomes a dark red.
Add the stock, stir, then simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced by about one quarter. Add the tomatoes, salt, sugar and spices. Stir, then simmer for a further 5 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the sauce has reduced and thickened (see note 2).
Turn the stove off. Add the beans and stir. Cover with the cheese, then bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.
Remove from the oven. Rest for 5 minutes, then place the pan on the table so everyone can help themselves.
Notes
1: Spice substitution options: cayenne pepper can be substituted with chilli powder. Garlic powder can be switched with more onion powder, and vice versa.
2: The sauce will not reduce further in the oven, so get it to the desired thickness on the stove before you bake.
