To start, you need to scorch the aubergines – easy if you have a gas hob, otherwise you will have a similar effect by placing the aubergines under a grill.
I placed a cooling rack over my gas hob and then placed the aubergines directly onto the flame, turning until it's coloured all over.
Pop to one side to cool.
Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in some hot water until soft – they'll need around 20 minutes, so do this first.
Chop the onion, pepper and carrot relatively small and place in a large saucepan with the rapeseed oil.
Sweat until soft for around 5-8 minutes.
You can scorch the green pepper too if you want.
Scorch first then chop and add to the onion and carrot after they've sweated for 5 minutes.
Next, add in all the spices except the fresh chilli, long with the tomato puree and cook for a couple of minutes.
Chop the garlic and chilli and add to the pan along with the lentils and stir everything.
Chop the porcini mushrooms and add to the pot along with the mushroom water and the black beans.
Add in the tinned tomatoes and chocolate and give everything a good stir.
Bring up to a simmer and leave for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After this time, taste to check the seasoning, and add salt and pepper as needed.
Cut the aubergine into relatively large pieces and add to the chilli, being careful not to stir too vigorously as you want to try and keep the aubergine intact.
Serve the chilli on a soft flour taco with some shredded lettuce, a good spoonful of the chilli and top it off with some avocado mashed with lime juice and salt, a blob of sour cream, some grated cheese and some spring onions and chilli.
