Mexican Chilli Bean Soup

When I went to university, my Dad bought me a student cookbook by Fiona Beckett as I'd never really done much cooking at home.  Neither had he for that matter, so I don't know where his perceptions of being the next Gordon Ramsey come from.  I’ve been through a number of different phases of food including a vegetarian phase more than once, so this year he bought me Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s Veg Every Day cookbook… I struggle to cook many things from there due to Rhys’s inability to eat a meal without meat in it, but there’s so many lovely looking dishes. This recipe is a combination of one of his soups and one of Fiona Becketts… with my own little twist naturally.
Anyway, it appears a number of the people accessing Nom-Appetite are actually my students (hello!), many of whom are on diets as well, so after making this soup on Monday evening and finding that it is absolutely delicious (not that it looks particularly appetising), I thought I would share it with them. I think the gem in this recipe is that it's so cheap (and easy) but it’ll feed a good number of mouths which makes it easy to make friends with.

Ingredients:

2 red onions

1 green pepper

2 cloves garlic

1-2 red chillies (depending on your preference for heat)

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chilli powder

400 ml passata

600 ml vegetable stock

1 can red kidney beans (drained well and rinsed)

1 can baked beans

1 small can sweetcorn

Instructions:

1. Finely dice the onions and pepper. Add to a large saucepan with FryLight and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Crush the garlic and finely chop the chillies. Add to the saucepan along with the cumin and chilli powder and cook for a further 2 minutes.

3. Add the passata and vegetable stock, and bring to the boil.

4. Drain the kidney beans and rinse them well, before adding them to the pan. Boil for 10 minutes, and turn down to simmer.

5. Add the baked beans and sweetcorn and simmer for a few minutes (try not to overdo this stage as you don’t want mushy beans).

6. Serve immediately (Hugh recommends a scoop of sour cream on top, Fiona recommends with tortilla chips) or keep for later – your choice.  

Carrot and Coriander Soup

This recipe seems pretty apt now that I've seen my second tutor group right the way through their A-levels as it's from my Fiona Beckett student cookbook, which my Dad bought me nearly 10 years ago when I was preparing to leave home and go to university.
Now that I am going back to work, I need to take control over my diet once again and last time I made this, eating it in conjunction with no snacks and a balanced meal in the evening, I lost 5 pounds in a week. That would make going back to work a little easier for me.

Ingredients:
1 white onion
350g carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
2 sticks celery (you can't taste it, I promise!)
1 medium-sized potato
750ml vegetable stock
1 tsp ground coriander
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. Dice the onion and cook on a low heat in Fry Light (or oil/butter depending on your preference) for 5 minutes, until soft.

2. Add the carrots, celery and potato to the pan and stir well. Cover the saucepan and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add the stock and on a high heat, bring to the boil. Turn the saucepan down to a medium heat and continue to cook for 25-30 minutes until the veggies are soft. Allow to cool slightly (you don't want to melt the blender - that's happened to my Mum before now!).

4. Using a blender, blitz the soup until smooth and return to the saucepan, reheating slowly. Add a little extra water if required, and season to taste.