• Serves: 10
  • Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 150g pinto beans
  • 100g black eyed beans
  • 1k beef shin or mince
  • 500g onions finely diced (approx. 3 onions)
  • 25g garlic, minced
  • 20g Cajun, Creole or Fajita spice mix
  • 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 chilli, leave whole but stab a hole in it
  • 2 stock cubes (optional) for depth of flavour
  • 1.2L water
  • 200g diced peppers (any colour)
  • 150g diced celery
  • 1 x 340g tin of sweetcorn (do not drain)
  • 200g diced courgette (about half a courgette)
  • 150g rice, any kind

This spicy beef soup is a great recipe for using up leftover veg and pulses, grains etc you may have in the cupboard.  Just about everything in it can be replaced or substituted with something similar.

Method

  • Soak the beans for at least 2 hours, rinse and cook to just done.
  • Seal the beef shin or mince in a pan, remove from the pan
  • Add the onions to the pan with a pinch of salt and some oil.
  • Cook for 5 mins on a low heat then add the garlic and spices and cook for a further 5 mins
  • Add water, tomatoes, chilli and stock cubes plus the beef and beans, cover and place in the oven at 150C for 3 hours or until the shin can be pulled easily apart using forks.
  • If necessary, leave the shin to one side to cool before pulling.
  • While this is cooling down, add the remaining ingredients to the pan and return to the oven for approx. 20 mins, until the rice is cooked.
  • Then add the pulled beef in, stir and serve or divide into tubs for freezing (make sure they are reusable!).
  • To re-heat, defrost thoroughly then add to a pan with a small amount of water.  Cook until piping hot and enjoy.

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