Aine Carlin's Carlin Pea Chilli Bowl

Aine Carlin's Carlin Pea Chilli Bowl

by Josiah Meldrum 4 Comments

When we first came across food writer Aine Carlin we couldn't resist sending her some of our carlin peas. She was delighted to find she shared her name with a pea (after all, her blog is called PeaSoup!) and quickly put our gift to good use.

We discovered Aine Carlin on Twitter, where she shares beautiful pictures of her simple, easy to follow vegan recipes. Many are featured in her recent book, The New Vegan, but lots simply record her day-to-day explorations into vegan cookery and are posted on her blog, PeaSoup

We had an extra reason to be delighted to find Aine; she shares a second name with our favourite (are we allowed favourites?) pea. So we sent her some carlins. On reflection she might have been rather taken aback by this gift, but she was as pleased as us with her namesake, loved the peas and quickly put our gift to good use making a delicious Carlin Chilli Bowl.

With kind permission we're reproducing the recipe below, but you really need to visit Aine's blog to get her full description of the recipe. While you're there you'll undoubtedly stumble across some other fantastic recipes - like this one for beetroot and fava bean dip.

Here's what Aine said about the whole experience and about the recipe:

"I apparently share my name with a pea … how cool/weird is that? Until Hodmedod’s kindly sent me some, I’d never actually come across ‘Carlin Peas’ before (also known as Black Badgers) so didn’t really know what to expect...

"Obviously I wanted to put my own spin on it though so opted for a generous dollop of harissa instead of my usual chilli spice combo (cumin, paprika, cayenne etc.) and I’m pleased to say it really worked a treat. You can easily up the spice ante with a dash more chilli if you please but one birds eye (sans seeds) was sufficient for me, especially as I didn’t want the harissa overshadowed by mega-heat. I was tempted to serve this with Hodmedods quinoa (also British grown!) but went in for my favourite chilli accompaniment instead … tortilla chips. Oh, and don’t forget that guac/avocado for added creaminess that will offset the richness of the tomato sauce."

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 red onions
  • 1 heaped tsp garlic puree or 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp red vinegar
  • pinch of brown sugar (optional)
  • 1 x 400g canned chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 x 400g canned carlin peas
  • 2 heaped tsp harissa paste
  • 1 birds eye chilli
  • 100g fresh spinach
  • salt and pepper
  • to serve: avocado, hemp seeds and tortilla chips

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan, finely dice red onion and add to pan.
  2. Season and sweat until the red onion begins to soften before adding the garlic puree. cover and cook until the red onion is transparent. add the red wine vinegar and pinch of sugar (if using) and gently sweat for a few minutes further.
  3. Add the canned tomatoes, tomato puree and season generously. fill the empty with water or vegetable stock and swill out any excess juice into the pan. simmer gently for around 40minutes breaking the tomatoes up with the back of a spoon.
  4. Drain and rinse the carlin peas and add to the sauce along with the harissa paste. finely mince the chilli and add to pan. check for seasoning and simmer for a further 20minutes.
  5. Finely chop the spinach and add to the pan. simmer for an additional 10-15minutes until it has fully wilted. check for seasoning and serve.
  6. Divide the chilli between 2-3 bowls and top with sliced or mashed avocado, a smattering of hemp seeds and a side of tortilla chips.



Josiah Meldrum
Josiah Meldrum

Author



4 Responses

Richard Williams
Richard Williams

May 31, 2021

Made this recipe last week. Brilliant. Everyone in the family loved it and it is definitely one to repeat on a regular basis. Trying to reduce our meat consumption and this is added to the recipe plan

Julie
Julie

May 03, 2018

My favourite kind of recipe: Vegan, made in one pot, easy to follow, looks and tastes great! Will definitely be making it again.

John J Gessler
John J Gessler

November 01, 2017

Just wanted to ‘like’ the above comment to be honest. I like a recipe that makes sense as I read it but also gives me ideas for tweaking such as covering with grated cheese and baking or building with layers of mozzarella.

Julia Savory
Julia Savory

May 30, 2017

I made this lovely the recipe and it was more than enough for 2 people for 2 main meals. It was better the 2nd day because the spices had developed! I made it with dried Hodmedod’s carlin peas that I’d soaked first and to be honest, I cooked it in the oven and doubled the amount of spinach. My meat eating husband loved it. I’m vegan and it was a great nutritious ‘hitting all the right buttons’ feast! Thanks Hodmedod’s. Now going to cook up some of your dried organic green split peas.

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