Need a chili recipe
Published by Kyso Kisaen August 22nd, 2007I took the written part of my candidacy exam yesterday and tomorrow’s the oral*. Next week I find out if I did OK or not. Advice has ranged from “OMG!111!! Red alert!” to “Did you write something down for every question? Then you passed.” So who knows?
Anyway, my program is chock full of supportive people, almost a dozen of which helped us prepare by giving us a three hour interrogation last week. I invited them all over for a thank you dinner and now I need to decide what to make. I was thinking vegetarian chili, rye bread, cheesy potatoes and cupcakes.
Anyone got any good vegetarian chili recipes? I have a large Crockpot and access to a grocery store.
*Not as sexy as it sounds, although if it was then at least I’d be sure I could pass.
Um, well, if you are trying to do it on the cheap…
You could also always use fresh instead of canned, which is, of course, better, but it’s more expensive and time-consuming. When I can, I try to do fresh, but it ends up being this recipe for the most part.
Um, also, you might want to saute the green pepper too at the beginning, but I like a bit of crunch, so…
And just go fractionally upward corresponding to how much you want to make. 2x the recipe is basically two times the ingredients, but you’ll need the biggest pot you’ve got. And crock potting this instead of the way I usually make it would make it better, definitely. I’ve never done it, but doing it like any stew or gravy-based dish would work, I think.
I tried this one by Austinite Dru Blood last winter, and it turned out really well.
http://www.drublood.com/archives/2006/03/the_almighty_church_of_chili.html
Whatever else you do to the chili, add cinnamon. This, I have found, is vital. Just a bit — a half-teaspoon in the above recipe would be enough — but it does amazing things to the taste.
Oh yeah, cinnamon is awsome or try 50 g of dark chocolate for Jacks recipe. Anyway mine is almost like it, except I hate canned corn.
I agree with the chocolate. I usually add either a bit of dark chocolate or cocoa powder to my chili, but since all my chili recipes are meat based (even loaded with veggies, chorizo is a must in any chili I make), I can’t help with the vegetarian part. Jack’s sounds good though, but I’d add a jar of pickled jalapenos and more chili powder to it.
God, I love Dru Blood just for the Decemberists reference in a chili recipe. So wonderful! And yeah, that recipe sounds awesome, a bit extravagant for my minimal budget, though. I also sometimes add in a tablespoon of cocoa powder sometimes. It makes the chili really rich and adds a…je ne sais quoi to it.
I’d recommend using frozen corn instead of canned, but if you use canned, rinse and drain it well before using it. Same with the beans - it helps to reduce the sodium and get rid of a lot of the canned taste.
Also - there’s always the Vegetarian Times website (an essential magazine in my house), in which you can do a keyword search for recipes. The website itself is a little annoying, but I’ve rarely gone wrong using one of their recipes. (www.vegetariantimes.com)
FatFreeVegan has a good recipe on her site (which I made for a bunch of non-veg Model UNers) and I’ve got two on mine. (Search the recipe index.)
I recommend using dried beans instead of canned. Just soak, rinse, boil. But that’s time-consuming.
If you must use canned corn, use hominy.
My own secret chili ingredient: orange marmalade. About a tablespoon.
I found this recipe to be quite yummy. When I made it, I omitted the sausage and used ground turkey instead of sirloin. To make it vegetarian, I think TVP or something along those lines would work nicely in place of the beef/turkey.
If you’re using a Crock-Pot, you don’t even have to pre-soak the beans, just rinse and cook. The only issue is that it’s not always clear how much water to use, but in general two-three times the volume of beans is good (at least for black beans; I’ve had bad luck with pinto). I haven’t optimized this recipe, but what has worked okay thusfar (the next iteration will probably involve cinnamon) is
one bag (1 lb, about 4 cups) black beans, rinsed and cursorily picked over
one large can (32 oz?- bigger than the 14 oz) enchilada sauce and a canful of warm water
1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled and in 1/2″ dice (uncooked)
1 green pepper, roughly diced
1 onion, roughly diced
Cook on low about 9 hours to overnight or so, and if you like mash up a portion with a potato masher before mixing it back in. Add a small bag of frozen corn and hot sauce to taste.
(Yes, the enchilada sauce adds tomatoes and salt, generally no-no’s when cooking beans, but they cook just fine.)
I wish I’d thought of this when I was in grad school (biochem). It has the advantage that all of its ingredients are pantry items or things I usually have around. Good luck on your exam period.