Black Bean & Olive Chilli

A catering job got cancelled last minute, so I’ve now got black bean and olive chilli for 30 people to freeze and distribute. Hence the (fake) tupperware picture. Thankfully, I hadn’t made the Mexican-style rice and the corn salad yet. The recipe is inspired by a chilli I had in Tuscon. I tried to guess the ingredients from memory and then expanded on that I can’t remember what’s exactly in the chilli, but it’s something like:

Dried black beans, soaked and boiled the next day
Tomato puree and a few pureed tin tomatoes (to thicken the bean liquid)
Garlic, Onions
Green Chillies
Sliced black olives
Veggie Mince
Fresh Coriander
Cayenne Pepper
Semi-random spices. I think Basil, Paprika, Cajun mostly.
Salt, Pepper

Black beans are probably my favourite bean of all – I love their nutty taste! I once tried to make refried beans from them, but they look gross as a puree (cement looks more tasty!). But they make fantastic chillis. Normall, I mash part of the beans in a chilli to thicken it up, but I don’t recommend doing it with black beans.
I love experimenting with chillis – using different beans and slightly different spices and ingredients. My trip to the US-Mexian border has expanded my chilli horizon by quite a bit. I love the culinary experimentation that is going on in this area!