Chilli Con Carne

A lighter version of a 'traditional' Chilli Con Carne, made using low fat turkey breast mince and chopped vegetables, served on a bed of crushed Udon Noodles instead of rice.

See notes below for alternative serving suggestions.

Serves 4 | 7 ProPoints/250 Calories per portion (approx)

Ingredients
1 medium onion
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 red bell pepper
2 chilli's (fresh, you choose strength)
2-3 cloves garlic 
340g lean turkey breast mince
1 tspn tomato purée
2 tspns chilli powder (hot or mild)
2 tspns cumin powder
2 tspns coriander powder
1/2 tspn smoked paprika (optional)
1 tspn dried chilli flakes (optional)
2 cans tomatoes (400g, good quality)
Worcestershire Sauce (splash)
Salt & pepper
375g Udon Noodles 

Method
1) Finely chop the onion, carrot, celery, bell pepper, chilli's and garlic and gently fry in a large pan or wok with a couple of squirts of 1Cal spray oil, until soft.  Add a dash of water if the vegetables start to stick to the bottom of the pan.

2) Add the turkey mince to the pan and cook until browned.  Stir through the tomato purée and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the chilli, cumin and coriander powder (plus the smoked paprika for smokiness to the flavour, if desired) and cook for another minute or two until the powder disappears.  Add the chilli flakes if required, for an extra 'kick'.

3) Add the cans of tomatoes, stir again and simmer for 10-15 minutes. If more sauce is required, half fill one of the empty tomato cans with water and add to the pan.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add a splash of Worcestershire Sauce if desired.  Test the taste - if you want more heat, add more chilli powder and flakes.  Extra cumin powder may be required.  Make sure you cook for a couple more minutes if more powder is added.

4) About 5 minutes before the chilli finishes cooking, bring a pan of water to the boil for the Udon Noodles.  Smash up the noodles in a sandwich bag, then add to the boiling water and simmer for 4-5 minutes.

5) When ready to serve, drain the noodles, portion between four people and then ladle over the chilli.

Notes/Ideas
If you like beans in your chilli, add a 300g can of drained Haricot beans while the chilli is simmering. This will add an extra 55 calories/1 ProPoint per portion.

If there is some chilli left over, save it and have it for lunch the next day on a 150g baked potato.  Such a potato would be about 120 calories, or 3 ProPoints, then add the chilli calories/ProPoints.

Instead of using Udon Noodles, why not serve on a bed of savoury rice; use our recipe without the turmeric. This would increase the calorie/ProPoint count accordingly.
 
You can, of course, use lean beef mince instead of turkey, but this will increase the calorie count and ProPoints.