Melissa Hemsley
Chef and best selling author, lover of leftovers and seasonal vegetables and regular volunteer with food waste charities, kids community cooking and ambassador of Fairtrade farmers.
Mel’s White Chicken & Bean Chilli
Melissa Hemsley
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra if needed
2 onions, finely chopped
2 yellow peppers, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp cayenne pepper or chilli flakes, to taste
1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
2 x 400g tins of white beans, drained and rinsed
200g frozen sweetcorn
Juice of 1 lime, plus a little zest if you like
Sea salt and black pepper
Optional toppings:
Soured cream or yoghurt
Fresh coriander and/or spring onions, sliced
Sliced avocado
Sliced radishes or cucumber
Lime wedges
Jarred jalapeño slices or chilli flakes
Extracted from Real Healthy by Melissa Hemsley (Ebury Press, £26). Photography by Lizzie Mayson.
A tomato-less chilli, hence the name ‘white chilli’. I use yellow peppers here to keep the chilli ‘white’ but use whatever colour you can find. I like to serve the toppings separately and let everyone help themselves. In terms of the beans, use whatever white beans you like, such as cannellini or butter beans. I find sweetcorn is always worth keeping in the freezer, but if you’ve got tinned sweetcorn, then drain, rinse and add it right at the end.
Method:
Season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and, once warm, add the chicken
thighs, skin-side down. Cook for 10–12 minutes over a medium-high heat until very well browned, then turn and
cook on the other side for 2–3 minutes. Lift out of the pot and set aside on a large plate.
The chicken should have given out plenty of fat but if not, add a splash of olive oil to the pot and, once warm, add the onions, peppers and a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry for about 12 minutes over a medium heat until very soft, stirring every so often. Add the garlic, fry for a minute, then add the cumin, oregano and cayenne or chilli flakes and fry for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
Return the chicken thighs to the pot and pour in the stock. Simmer for 25 minutes, then add the beans and continue
to cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the chicken thighs once cooked through and take the meat off the bones and shred. Set aside, discarding the chicken skin if you wish.
Use a potato masher or the back of your wooden spoon to crush roughly a third of the beans (this will help thicken the chilli). Add the frozen sweetcorn, then cook for 5 minutes or so until tender. Remove from the heat, add the chicken, lime juice, plus a little zest if you like, and taste for seasoning. Ladle into bowls and finish with the toppings you like.
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 will love mashing the beans! They could also wash veg and help you carefully ladle, top and serve the bowls of chilli.
Activities
Why not try making a pepper face mask a cut-out and colour pepper, or veg crown?
Or grab some of our free games & puzzles with peppers like our Shaun the Sheep – Amazing Pepper Chase (or our other Shaun-themed pepper activities), our Chop Chop pepper game or our Spot the pepper game?
Find loads more free pepper-themed crafts here and games here.
Sensory
Grab a couple of different coloured peppers and explore what they look like together – what do they remind you of? Encourage imagination, allowing them to explore with their senses, perhaps shaking, tearing, or sniffing it. Try cutting one lengthways and see what they think it looks like now – do they see a scary face or something else? Let them be curious and come up with mad ideas to keep it fun!
Watch our video from Ruth Platt for a visual guide to exploring peppers with your senses here. 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
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
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