This is a recipe from Jamie Oliver which I have only minutely adapted. It’s so easy and will knock your socks off with flavour (and chilli depending on how much you dare to use!). You can also play around with the ingredients especially the veg and keep tasting as you go – if it needs more, add more!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 400-500g Lean Minced Beef / or Quorn Mince
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes (2x400g)
• 1 tin of red kidney beans (400g)
• 1 tin of chickpeas (400g)
• 1 large onion
• 3/4 garlic segments (to your personal taste)
• 2-3 sticks of celery
• 1 large or 2 medium carrots
• 2 peppers (any colour – I like yellow and orange for sweetness)
• Glug of Balsamic Vinegar
• 1-2 tsp each of Cumin, Turmeric, Cinnamon
• 1-2 tsp hot chilli powder (to your personal taste)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

•  Roughly chop the onion and finely chop/crush the garlic. Pour the oil into a large saucepan over a high heat until oil is visibly hot, then reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and garlic. Sweat these on a low heat.
• Clean, peel, de-seed, chop/slice the veg (celery, peppers and carrots) into small/large chunks/slices (it’s up to you). Keep checking on the onion and garlic.
• Add the mince to the saucepan by gently separating with your fingers as you drop it in. Stir it around and let it cook slightly on the medium heat. Add the cumin (1.5), turmeric (1.5), cinnamon (1) and chilli powder (2) – the numbers in brackets are a guide to how many teaspoons I normally add. Stir and let the spices infuse the meat.
• Add the two tins of chopped tomatoes, stirring each one as it goes in. Fill one empty tin with water and add this to the pan.
• Once the mixture is bubbling nicely, add a glug (about one tablespoon) of Balsamic vinegar (be careful with this as it can overpower everything).
• Then add all of the veg and stir in.
• Drain the chickpeas and kidney beans and wash under a tap. Add both to the pan – which will be pretty full by now!
• Leave this to simmer for about an hour for the flavours to get into everything and the liquid to reduce. Keep tasting and add spices and seasoning if you need to – don’t over-do it though, you’ll find the flavours develop quite nicely over the hour.
• Serve with rice, jacket potato or just good old bread and butter! This will serve 4 people very comfortably (up to 6) but if there’s less of you, have it the next day – it will taste even better! Enjoy!