A fun, easy and enjoyable vegan meal for all ages :-)  Nachos with a sort of “Chilli con Carne” (“chilli with meat) twist – they’re entirely animal friendly VEGAN!

A great “first vegan meal” for new vegans, nachos only require a few simple, cheap ingredients.  A couple cans of Wattie’s Chilli Beans, tomatoes (fresh or canned), onion, carrot, vegan corn chips?  Yup, you’re good to go :-)

Add salad, avocado and hummus to fancy things up.  Perhaps you could even experiment with a scary new “vegan” ingredient, “Textured Vegetable Protein” (TVP) which is basically “mince”!

TVP is cheapest at Bin Inn, about half the cost of the “Lotus” name brand product at supermarkets.

UPDATE: available now at New World Windsor, there’s even Angel Food brand vegan Sour Cream!  Perfect for nachos :-)  Check out the “Dairy” aisle.

 

 

 

Add burrito wraps to the basic chilli mixture, and voila, you’ve got burritos!

 

Just one last tip, we’d recommend “Mexicano” brand corn chips. “Natural” and “Tasty Salsa” varieties are entirely vegan, without animal guts or goo cooked inside.  You can even see inside their factory!  Available at all good supermarkets, be they Pak n Save, New World or Countdown.

SURE, if you wanna buy into that whole health fad “natural”, “not-really-processed-up-that-much” mumbo jumbo, get the gluten free Natural chips.  Corn, vegetable oil  (plus the inevitable “half a bag of air” you get with all chips, am-I-right?)

But if you buy the Tasty Salsa chips, you’re getting your recommended daily intake of “Anti Caking Agents”, both 341 (Calcium Phosphate) AND 551 (Silicon Dioxide).   Plus, how could we overlook “Acidity Regulator” 262? (Sodium Acetate)

Natural vs Tasty Salsa flavours: two ingredients, or over sixteen!

Here’s a basic “recipe”, adjust to your taste/what you’ve got in the cupboards :-)

 

Ingredients:

1 x bag of Corn Chips

2 x can of Chilli Beans

2 x diced Onions

2 x grated Carrots

1 x can of Diced Tomatoes/fresh tomatoes/tomato paste

 

Additional suggestions shown:

Avocado, Hummus, 1 x cup of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) to make vegan “mince”, a side salad :-)

 

Plain text instructions 

Peel and dice onion.  Fry in a little oil until clear.

Peel and grate carrot.  If you like, add the grated carrot to the onions until cooked soft.

If using Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) as vegan “mince”, add boiling hot water to a bowl of TVP.  Set aside the TVP, which will “hydrate” and plump up as you cook.

Open the cans of Chilli Beans and pour into a large pot.  Add fried onions, carrot while stirring.

Add tomatoes, whether canned, fresh or paste.  Allow to simmer

Strain water from Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), pressing on the spongy TVP to release water.  Add squeezed, dry TVP to the other ingredients.

Simmer for five minutes, allowing the TVP to absorb the other flavours.

Serve over nacho corn chips, perhaps with a side salad, avocado and hummus.  Enjoy with friends.

 

Step by step photos with added commentary :-)

Peel and dice onion.  Fry in a little oil until clear.

“Here’s some we prepared earlier”, or more accurately, the same exact onions after five minutes frying.

Peel and grate carrot.  If you like, add the grated carrot to the onions until cooked soft.

If using Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) as vegan “mince”, add boiling hot water to a bowl of TVP.  Set aside the TVP, which will “hydrate” and plump up as you cook.

Why some TVP always sinks, some always floats is a mystery for the ages.

Open the cans of Chilli Beans and pour into a large pot.  Add fried onions, carrot while stirring.

Add tomatoes, whether canned, fresh or paste.  Allow to simmer.

Strain water from Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), pressing on the spongy TVP to release water.  Add squeezed, dry TVP to the other ingredients.

Simmer for five minutes, allowing the TVP to absorb the other flavours. 

Serve over nacho corn chips, perhaps with a side salad, avocado and hummus.

          

Perhaps a side salad: carrot, lettuce, tomato, cucumber.

Unfortunately, salad doesn’t (yet) come in a can, packed with acidity regulators and anti-caking agents.  You’ll sadly have to use FRESH ingredients :-(

Now, this looks all good and all, fatty avocado and hummus, the corn chips melting with heat and sheer loveliness.  

But it leaves room for improvement….food is ALWAYS better eaten outside, sitting on your lawn with the daisies! 

Nachos, a simple, quick, and cheap meal for everyone.  Enjoy with friends :-)

 

 

 

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