Here’s a great tasting recipe for vegetable chili. A healthy vegetarian style appetizer that can be made in under one hour. It has a hot and spicy taste that is not too overwhelming. It’s made with fresh vegetables like red and green peppers, spinach, black beans and tomatoes. It makes a great alternative to meat packed chili and can be considered vegetarian.

ingredients

• 5oz Quick Cooking Barley
• 1 Aubergine (Diced)
• 1⁄2 Large Red Pepper (Seeded and Chopped)
• 1⁄2 Large Green Pepper (Seeded and Chopped)
• 1 Onion (Chopped)
• 3 Garlic Cloves (Minced)
• 14oz Canned Plum Tomatoes (Chopped)
• 15oz Canned Cooked Black Beans (Drained)
• 1⁄2 Teaspoon Chilli Powder
• 5oz Fresh Spinach (Chopped)
• Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preparation

Start by bringing 2pt of water to a boil, in a large frying pan. Stir in the barley, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes or until the barley is tender. Next add the aubergine, peppers, onion and garlic. Stir thoroughly, cover and cook over a medium heat for about 20 minutes until the aubergine is softened and the other vegetables are tender.

Remove the lid to stir frequently, to prevent the mixture from catching on the bottom of the pan. Mix in the tomatoes and black beans and then add the chilli powder, and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add the spinach and stir through and cook for another 2–3 minutes or until the spinach is wilted. Serve the vegetable chili immediately.