This is a colourful, hearty, easy-to-make vegan chili recipe. The main ingredients are black beans, yam, bell peppers and kale. This delicious chili is closely based on a recipe from a woman named Maribeth, who is hosting a 30-day green smoothie challenge. Her recipe called for more yam, less bell pepper, and no kale. Not everyone loves yam in my house so I cut it down to 1/2 a yam, but if you love it, add more. I loved the kale in there as it provides a nice hearty, chewy texture that usually comes from ground beef in a meat chili. If you wanted to convert this to a meat recipe you could fry up a pound of any type of ground meat and either before starting the garlic, onion, and peppers, or on the side and then mix it in.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
2 coloured bell peppers, seeded, and diced
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 large yam, or sweet potato, cut onto small cubes
2 cups chopped kale
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 large can tomatoes blended (or you can use fresh – I used half a can of romas blended with half a pint of grape tomatoes)
2 cups vegetable stock or water
2 cans black beans drained, rinsed
optional garnish: chopped cilantro

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil. Sauté garlic, onion, bell pepper, and salt until soften. 5-10 minutes.
2. Add cumin and chili powder and stir to combine.
3. Add the yam and lime zest and cook for 10 min more, stirring occasionally.
4. Add tomatoes, kale, water or stock, beans, lime juice. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cook for 20 min or until yams are soften.