Vegan Chilli Cheese Fries
Author: 
Recipe type: Vegan, Healthy, Gluten Free
Serves: 2
 
The perfect dish to serve when you have friends over. It's impressive and yet simple to make, which will definitely earn you many compliments! You can prep the chilli and the cheese sauce the day before, so it can be a fuss-free dish if you've got other things to do before your guests arrive.
Ingredients
For the Chilli
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • ⅛ teaspoon cayenne
  • 3 carrots (about 130g), diced
  • 3 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 can kidney beans, drained
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • Salt and pepper
  • Juice of half a lime
For the Fries
  • 600g potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon macadamia oil
  • Salt + Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (optional)
Cheese Sauce
Extra Optional Toppings
  • Avocado
  • Coriander/Cilantro
Instructions
  1. Start by making your chilli. Heat your coconut oil and add the onions, garlic, and spices. Sauté on medium until onions almost cooked, about 5 minutes. Add in your carrots and tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  2. Add your beans and tomatoes, salt, pepper, and lime juice and stir. Reduce the heat to low-medium and let simmer, covered, for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. You don't want it to be too watery, so if at the end it's not thick enough simply cook on low for another 10 minutes without a lid.
  3. In the meantime start preparing your fries. Pre-heat your oven to 200ºC/395ºF and line two baking trays with baking parchment and place in the oven.
  4. Chop your potatoes into fries, I don’t bother peeling mine. Add some water to a steamer pan, bring to a boil, place a steamer basket over the pan and add your fries. Cover and steam for 5 minutes, just until the fries are glistening and slightly cooked but not soft. You should be able to pierce it with a fork but it shouldn’t be too easy for the fork to come out. If in doubt, it's best to under-cook at this stage.
  5. Remove the steamed fries and carefully pat them try with some paper towel. Add them to a large bowl with your macadamia oil and a generous sprinkle of salt, pepper, and your Cajun seasoning, if using.
  6. Transfer the fries to your baking sheets, making sure the fries are well spread and not touching.
  7. Add to your oven and bake for 20 minutes, flipping the fries once halfway through. Remove your fries from the oven, and let cool for about 10 minutes so they can crisp up a bit more.
  8. Once fries are nice and crispy and the chili is done cooking, add all of the fries to one of the lined baking trays, plop a generous serving of your chili on top (you might not need all of it), generously spoon the squash cheese sauce, and place back in the oven in broiler mode for another 2-3 minutes, just so it all sizzles and bubbles together.
  9. Remove from the oven, top with any extras, squeeze some lime, and serve!
Notes
You might have some chilli left over. Simply keep it in an airtight container to be eaten with some leftover rice later on, or if you want to serve more people increase the amount of potatoes you're using!

Making the chilli in advance not only saves time but also allows the flavours to really develop and become even more delicious!
Recipe by Sprinkle of Green at https://www.sprinkleofgreen.com/vegan-chilli-cheese-fries