
A nice hearty, spicy and comforting chilli is hard to beat, right? If you serve it to me with some newly baked baguettes, I’m yours forever. Back in my meat-eating days, this was one of my go-to dishes, but it sadly faded out of my cooking routine when I removed meat due to the fact that I could not find a good replacement for the minced meat texture wise. But then I was introduced to chickpeas. My god are they versatile! From being “the things you make hummus out of” they are now a must-have in my kitchen cabinet. To get the texture of this chickpea chilli right you need to mash the chickpeas. I use a potato stomp but I guess you could use a fork or any other kitchen utensil really.

Health benefits of chickpeas

Chickpeas, like other legumes, are high in fibre. Studies have shown that people with diabetes 1 and 2 may benefit from a high fibre diet because it may affect the blood glucose and blood sugar levels.

Furthermore, chickpeas are high in iron, phosphate, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and vitamin K which all contribute to maintaining good, healthy and strong bone structure. Chickpeas are also quite high in protein which makes them good if you want to build more and stronger muscles, and I mean, who doesn’t?

Heads up

Be sure to check the ingredients lists on the tin cans when you buy them. For some reason, a lot of manufacturers put sugar in the cans. Sure, you can rinse the chickpeas but I just don’t feel good about eating sugar when I don’t know I’m eating sugar.

How to make chickpea chilli

Open up the cans of chickpeas, then continue to drain and rinse them. Don’t forget to save the aquafaba (the chickpea water) for later, it’s always good to have in the refrigerator. Add the chickpeas to a large bowl and start mashing them with a potato-stomp. Don’t mash them completely, you want to keep some texture.

Set the chickpeas aside, and start dicing the onion, garlic and red pepper.

In a large saucepan heat up the olive oil and start frying the onion and garlic for a minute or two until they have softened and starts to be translucent. Then add the red pepper and mashed chickpeas and continue to fry for about 2-3 minutes.

Now, go ahead and add all the remaining ingredients, except the black beans, lower the heat a bit and let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent from sticking. If you feel it is getting to dry, you can and a little water.

Drain and rinse the black beans and fold them in.

Serve immediately with some bread of your choice.

Let me know in the comments below if you liked this recipe, that would make me so happy. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Take care, and be safe!