Black Bean Lettuce Cups Recipe

We love this recipe because it is cheap, simple and packed with fibre and protein to keep your gut happy and your stomach full!

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion – diced
• 3 garlic cloves – crushed
• 1 small red chilli – finely chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 125mL (½ cup) vegetable stock
• 2 tomatoes – diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2/3 cup rice – uncooked OR 2 cups – cooked
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 x 400g can black beans* – drained
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves, plus extra to serve – finely chopped
• 8 iceberg lettuce leaves

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, garlic and chilli and cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened.
3. Stir in the cumin, vegetable stock, tomato, tomato paste and rice and cook for 10 minutes, or until simmering and fragrant. Season with pepper.
4. Add the beans to the tomato mixture and cook for a further 5-10 minutes; until reduced and thick (you don’t want this to be runny!).
5. Stir through coriander. Spoon the bean mixture into the lettuce cups and serve with a sprinkle of coriander.

TIPS

• Feel free to bulk up this dish with more ingredients from the free foods list. You could try adding grated carrot or zucchini, or chopped capsicum or mushrooms
• To lower sodium, use no added salt varieties of canned black beans, tomato paste and vegetable stock
• Use brown or black rice to add more fibre to this dish. Fibre is important for filling us up, keeping our bowel movements regular and promoting healthy gut bacteria.