A versatile veggie chilli recipe from Becca Rothwell, author of the brilliantly titled blog How to Make a Mess. You can see the original post and the thinking behind it here.

Serves 6-8 depending on how hungry you are but freezes well in portion sizes as required.

• 1 large or 2 small to medium onions
• 3-5 garlic cloves depending on their size and how garlicky you want to smell (I always use 5)
• 4 tins plum tomatoes
• 2 tins red kidney beans in water
• 3 tins any other beans in water
• (The standard combination I use is borlotti, pinto and black eyed beans however if you can’t find any of these types in the shops you can easily replace it with cannellini, haricot or even butter beans)
• ½ tbsp ground chilli (Know the strength of your ground chilli! If you prefer it spicy use hot chilli powder, if not use mild, but even with these distinctions I’ve used 1 ½ tbsp of hot before and found there to be not enough spice or mild and found it to be too much.  Best to check how spicy your ground chilli is beforehand and adjust accordingly)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• bay leaves
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• A bunch of fresh coriander roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp oil (roughly, I rarely measure oil - sorry)
• Salt and pepper
• About a glass of red wine (optional, I had a bottle open so I threw a glass in figuring it would add extra depth which it did, please don’t feel you have to open a bottle especially for this though as it really isn’t necessary)

Dice the onion and either finely chop or crush (easier) the garlic cloves.  Heat the oil in a large pan big enough to take the volume of ingredients and gently sweat the onion and garlic in it until soft.  Stir in the ground chilli, cumin and coriander and cook for a half a minute or so until fragrant then add the tins of plum tomatoes and the wine if using.

Rinse all of the beans under cold water and add them too, followed by the basil, oregano, bay leaves, tomato puree, a pinch of salt and fairly good grinding of fresh black pepper.  Carefully stir this all together then bring to a simmer and leave to slowly bubble for about an hour to an hour and a half.

If, as I did as a student and still do now, you have fairly cheap pans with bases the thickness of tin foil you will need to give the chilli a stir every 10-15 minutes or so to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan, however this is probably a good idea anyway as it helps to break the tomatoes up too.  When the chilli has thickened up and finished cooking stir in the fresh coriander.  Serve in any of the myriad ways mentioned, or however else you fancy your chilli.

Becca Rothwell is the author of the food and craft blog, How to Make a Mess. She says "Having graduated only two years ago, with no training bar what I’ve learnt from family, friends, magazines and the internet I continue to cook in a broadly student style, albeit a food obsessed and fairly adventurous student!"

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