Adzuki beans have a low carbon footprint

Back at the beginning of December, I talked about an app - Impact Score Shopping - that I have started to use in my attempt to become more informed about the environmental impact of the things that I eat. You can read that blog here.

One of our successes, in terms of eating a lot less meat, has been a meat-free chilli which our three girls didn't actually realise was meat-free until I told them after the meal. We haven't had a lot of joy with meat lookalikes in the past. Two of our children don't like soya alternatives and the other is allergic to Quorn. (Google it - it's a thing - and is to do with the protein derived from a fungus). 

We have tried Plant Chef burgers - and everyone will eat them - but they're not a low carbon footprint product. Obviously, they're healthier than meat burgers and suitable for vegans - but in terms of the environmental impact they're not as good as they could be.

Back to the chilli. The only difference to a meat chilli was substituting Adzuki beans for the mince.

If you've never had adzuki beans before they're very similar to kidney beans but a lot smaller - and as it turns out, if you are an unobservant teenager they're not dissimilar to mince when cooked in a chilli!

I first came across adzuki beans as a substitution for kidney beans in our weekly supermarket delivery. When asked if I was happy to accept the substitution I had no idea what they were, having never heard of them before - nor had the delivery driver.

Adzuki beans are a low carbon footprint product as are kidney beans and tinned tomatoes. They should get 4 out of 6 badges as the tin is recyclable. 

I use a Colman's chilli mix which now comes in a fully recyclable packet - but it may well be better to use chilli powder, a stock cube, garlic and something like cumin - something to look at later.

Fry the onion and then add everything else (400g adzuki beans, 400g kidney beans, 400g tinned chopped tomatoes, packet mix made up with 150ml of cold water) and allow to simmer for about 15 mins.

Serve with rice and top with grated cheese. The only good thing about the cheese is that it is UK made.

Because calculating carbon emissions for individual products is so complicated it is impossible to put an actual figure in terms of kgCO2 as to how much better this recipe is than the meat version. But it is a step in the right direction. It would be even better without cheese.