BOSH! Ultimate Chilli

BOSH!

Featuring:

Mushrooms

Pulses

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Main

400g mushrooms

Olive oil

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

2 red onions

4 garlic cloves

2 fresh red chillies

30g fresh coriander (leaves and stalks separated)

1 celery stick

1 red pepper

1 tbsp tomato purée

250ml red wine

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

1 x 400g tin black beans (drained)

1 x 400g tin kidney beans (drained)

1½ tsp maple syrup

10g dark chocolate

Spice Mix

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 bay leaf

A deep, dark, and smoky chilli that’s bursting with rich flavour. The magic comes from the mushroom base, boosted by bold, untraditional ingredients like soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, and a touch of dark chocolate. Let it bubble away to deepen the flavour — you’ll be bowled over by the end result.

Method:

Prepare the mushrooms

- Add mushrooms to a food processor and pulse until finely minced (or chop finely by hand).
- Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. Add the mushrooms, salt, and pepper.
- Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned and reduced.
- Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Cook the base

- Finely chop onions, garlic, chillies, celery, and red pepper.
- Separate coriander leaves from stalks; finely chop the stalks.
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add onions, garlic, coriander stalks, and chillies.
- Cook gently for 5–10 minutes, stirring often.
- Add the celery and red pepper, cook for a few more minutes until softened.

Add the spice and build flavour

- Add all the spice mix ingredients to the pan and stir well to coat the vegetables.
- Stir in the tomato purée and cook for 1 minute to deepen the flavour.
- Pour in the red wine, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar.
- Turn the heat to high and cook until the liquid has reduced by two-thirds and the alcohol aroma has gone.

Add tomatoes and simmer

- Stir in the chopped tomatoes.
- Simmer for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.

Add the beans and final touches

- Tip in the black beans, kidney beans, maple syrup, dark chocolate, and the cooked mushrooms.
- Stir well, reduce to a gentle simmer, and cook uncovered for 10–15 minutes, or longer if you have time, until rich and thick.
- Add a splash of water if it gets too thick.

Finish and serve

- Remove the bay leaf.
- Stir in the fresh coriander leaves.
- Serve with rice, tortilla chips, or over baked potatoes — or use it to make Big Bad Nachos!

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

Kids can help you pulse the mushrooms in the food processor, rinse veggies and beans, or stir the spice mix ingredients together. Older kids might even be able to help you chop some vegetables and stir ingredients carefully into the pan. Serving and choosing/adding toppings is always fun for all!

Master these skills:

Cleaning vegetables, Weighing, Tasting, Mixing

More about Kitchen Ninja Skills

Activities

Why not make a funny face on a plate using sliced raw mushrooms and other veggies? Or trace the shape of a sliced mushroom onto paper and see what it reminds you of—a spaceship, person, or hat—then turn it into a fun drawing or collage with coloring pencils or paper scraps.

Kids more interested in science? Try a mushroom growing kit! You can find more at-home science fun with veg with our videos from Stefan Gates’ here.

Find loads more free veg-themed crafts here and games here.

Sensory

Mushrooms are perfect for sensory exploration because they’re so unique! A pack of “wild” or “mixed” mushrooms lets you explore the differences in taste and appearance. Look at whole, sliced, and separated mushrooms, and describe what you see—patterns, lines, colors, or shapes. Then, explore their texture—do large flat mushrooms feel the same as small oyster or button mushrooms? Do they smell different? How do raw mushrooms compare to cooked ones in smell, taste, and texture? Are they smooth, hard, crunchy, or soft?

Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!

Serving

While the dinner you are serving it with is cooking, ask your child to design a beautiful menu for the table, with special emphasis on “their” mushroom and bean meal they helped you make!

Find the best ways of involving your own child and their skills and interests on our Roles for Kids page.

BOSH!

After six years of eating plant-based food, Ian and Henry, co-founders of BOSH, mastered a new style of cooking, one made popular through a new breed of internet chefs, where novelty and wow-factor presentation are just as important as taste and ease.

Everything Ian and Henry do is aimed at showing just how easy it is to eat more plants. They also want to prove how delicious, hearty and satisfying plant-based food can be. Through BOSH, they cook, drink and film delicious recipes for the world, all from the BOSH office in London.

www.bosh.tv/

Bang In Some Beans

How do you keep a family healthy for less? How can we reduce the impact of our food on climate change? Bang in some beans! Delicious, simple beans, lentils and pulses full of fibre and so easy straight from the tin.

Discover Beans