Nico's hearty sausage hot pot

Ingredients

Serves 4-6
Time 30 minutes

• 1 red/green pepper, thinly sliced
• 6 jumbo sausages
• Dried Kidney Beans, approx a handful per serving. (Canned beans are also a budget choice)
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 bay leaves
• 250ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp of chilli flakes
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 300g sliced baby potatoes

Method

1. Rehydrate the beans by soaking overnight, twice the amount of water to beans.
2. Roughly chop the carrot and onion, add to a pot with the whole garlic cloves and bay leaves.
3. Drain and rinse the beans before adding to the pot
4. Just cover with water, put the lid on and boil for 1.5 hours.
5. In a deep-frying pan or sauté pan/ pot with a lid sear the sausages until browned, remove from the pan.
6. Add more oil if necessary, then add the onion, pepper, carrot and garlic to the hot pan, followed by the cumin seeds and chilli flakes and roughly chopped thyme, fry for 5 minutes over a high heat.
7. Next add the tomato paste, a pinch of salt and pepper and then make a well in the centre and add the chopped tomatoes, let the mixture condense well.
8. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer.
9. Add the sliced potatoes.
10. Next slice the sausages and add to the pan.
11. Add the beans, cover and continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
12. Garnish with chopped chives.