Black bean and kumara chilli
Smoky, thick and a little sweet from the kumara. One of those pots that tastes like it took longer than it did.
Notable for: vitamin C, fibre, antioxidants
Ingredients
- 1.2 kgblack beans in brine, 3 cans, drained
- 410 gred kidney beans in brine, 1 can, drained
- 600 gorange kumara, 2 cm cubes
- 260 glong grain white rice
- 800 gchopped tomatoes, 2 cans
- 250 gbrown onions, diced
- 2red capsicum, diced
- 250 gfrozen corn kernels
- 10 gground cumin
- 10 gsmoked paprika
- 5 gchilli powder
- 15 gcrushed garlic
- 1stock cubes, in 300 ml water
- 1lemons, juiced
- 10 mlolive oil
Method
Put the rice on to cook, then heat the oil in a large pot and cook the onion and capsicum for 8 minutes.
Add the cumin, paprika, chilli and garlic and cook for a full minute.
Add the kumara, tomatoes and stock, and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid ajar until the kumara is nearly tender.
Add all the beans and simmer for 10 minutes more until thick.
Add the corn for the last 3 minutes.
Take the pot off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, taste hard for salt, and serve on the rice.
Taste it for salt at the end
Bean dishes swallow salt in a way meat ones do not, and an unsalted chilli tastes flat no matter how many spices went in. Add, stir, taste, repeat until it lifts.
Storage
Keeps five days in the fridge and freezes well.
It thickens overnight, so loosen with water when you reheat.
Cost per serving is indicative, based on New Zealand supermarket prices as at September 2026. Batch prices your own week against your own store on the day. Nutrition figures, including calories, are estimates rather than label readings, so always check the packet if you have an allergy. "Notable for" reflects well-established qualities of the ingredients used, not a lab measurement of this exact dish.