Meat-Free Mexican Mole

On a sunny summer's day, light salads and vegetable dishes seem ideal for an SP day. However, we all know that the British summer doesn't work like that. After a couple of weeks of sunshine, we seem to have been dealt something of a wetter spell, with our village here in North Yorkshire currently on flood watch! This really makes me hanker for a bit of warmth and comfort food.

This mexican mole dish was inspired by a visit to Wahaca last year when I had some amazing vegetarian treats that seemed to balance so well the rich depth of slow-cooked dishes with fresh, zingy flavours. The inclusion of dark chocolate here may seem surprising, particularly when eating healthily, but it only means 3 syns for the whole dish and it really is worth it as it really distinguishes this from the other tomato-based dishes that tend to dominate my SP days.

This also includes the use of some frozen soya mince - see my thinking on this here. If you decide it isn't for you, then you could make it without this or perhaps replace with re-hydrated dried soya, but I find I just can't get enough flavour into the dried product.

I've served this with a mixed salad of cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions and red peppers, dressed in lime juice and red wine vinegar, blended with a little spot of mustard. This adds that sharp, fresh edge that cuts through the richness of this dish, also complimented by a spoonful of quark.

As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the protein sources (P foods) in red, the speed (S) foods in green, healthy extra allowances in blue and syns, with syn values in brackets in orange. 

Meat-Free Mexican Mole

Serves 3 - 2 syns for full recipe

1 can borlotti beans, drained

1 can red kidney beans, drained

100g frozen Morrisons' Meat-Free Mince

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 leek, sliced into 1 cm rounds

1 courgette, cut into chunks

1 pepper (red, orange or green would work), cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 red chilli, very finely chopped

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 tsp dried cumin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

200g carton of passata

2 tsp tomato puree

1 tbsp soy sauce 

10g dark chocolate (3 syns)

Heat a good, large non-stick saucepan or wide heavy-based saucepan, sprayed with spray oil.

Gently fry the onion, pepper, courgette and leek until the onion goes translucent. 

Add the chopped chilli, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, dried chilli flakes and fry for 3 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid it sticking - add a small splash of water if needed. 

Then add the meat-free mince and fry in the heat, adding the soy sauce after a minute or two. You want the mixture to be relatively dry in the pan so the mince has more of a fried texture to it than a soggy one. 

Add the drained beans to the mixture and cook them in the mixture for 5 minutes. 

After a 3 minutes, add half of the passata and stir whilst the soya mince absorbs the liquid.  

Stir in the puree and drop in the dark chocolate and stir until it melts. Then turn down to a low simmer for 15-20 mins, checking regularly to ensure it isn't catching - adding a small splash of boiling water if so. 

Serve with rocket, salad and a spoonful of quark, sprinkled with paprika. If you aren't using it elsewhere in your day, you could sprinkle some of your HEA cheese over the top.