Vegetable and Bean Chilli

Ingredients

• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1½ tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1 large onion - peeled and chopped into small dice
• 1 celery stalk - ribs removed and finely chopped
• 1 red and 1 green bell pepper (capsicum) stalk and seeds removed and chopped
• 2 large carrots - peeled and grated (otherwise they'll take ages to cook)
• 1 courgette (zucchini) - thinly sliced and cut into half-moons
• 2 nice fat cloves of garlic - chopped finely
• 1-2 red chillies - seeds in, or remove if you don't like a bit of heat and finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons of chilli powder or to taste
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée (tomato paste in the USA)
• 1 x 400g can of good-quality plum tomatoes - including the juice
• 1 Knorr vegetable stock cube (chicken if not vegetarian) dissolved in just 160ml hot water
• 1 x 400g can of kidney beans in chilli sauce - (drained and rinsed if yours are in water)
• 1 x 400g can of lentils (drained of water, so now the drained weight is approx. 260g) OR use a 250g pack of ready-to-eat puy lentils (they are not in water)