Vegetarian Chili

Tusky

I'm a big fan of chili and have been looking out for a great recipe for a while. Most of the time the ones I've made have been grand, but not quite as tasty as I want them to be. Stumbled upon this recipe recently and made it today - fekkin lovely. So nice that I thought I'd post it up here.

http://pickyeaterblog.com/2010/11/30/the-best-vegetarian-chili-ever/

The Best Vegetarian Chili EVER!
Posted on Nov 30, 2010
Historically, my husband has always been a bit skeptical of vegetarian chilis. I think this is because he used to eat meat (he turned veggie at age 15) and probably never got used to the non-meat flavor in veggie chili. (I could probably ask him why he didn’t like it but it’s more fun for me to speculate on this blog hehe). Anyway – I recently came across a really flavorful veggie chili recipe on Kath Eats and convinced my husband to try it. It was a total SUCCESS! He LOVED the chili so much he went back for seconds I made a few modifications to Kath’s recipe – but overall stayed pretty true to it because it was so good! Thanks Kath for a great recipe!

Ingredients
1 can Kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Navy (or pinto) beans, drained and rinsed (I used pinto beans because I like them better)
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen okra (I actually omitted this, and substituted 1 cup of chopped red pepper)
1/2 cup frozen lima beans (or canned) (I omitted this too, and substituted 1/2 cup chopped red onion)
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup vegetable broth (or chicken broth) To keep it veggie friendly, I used veggie broth of course
3 garlic cloves (I probably used closer to 4-5 to up the flavor)
1 heaping tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp Ghirardelli cocoa powder (unsweet) (This is totally the secret ingredient in the recipe! Makes the chili super smoky and gives it a wonderful flavor!)
2 sprinkles garlic powder (This ended up being about 1/2 tsp for me)
1 sprinkle cayenne pepper (This ended up being a little less than 1/4 tsp for me)
3-4 glugs Worcestershire sauce (Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it, so I actually used soy sauce as a substitute and it worked great!)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
A few grinds of black pepper

Directions
Chop the garlic, onion, and red pepper. Saute lightly over medium high heat in 1-2 tsp olive oil
Add everything else into the pot! Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min or longer as needed
Top with cheese, sour cream, and serve with tortilla chips!

I followed her recipe along with the omissions, i.e I used pepper and onion instead of Okra and Lima beans. Used 1xkidney, 1xpinto & 1xblack. Also added a red chili pepper. Recommended!

Wurly

Wow - that looks great.

Where do you get 'Ghiradelli' cocoa powder though? I've never heard of it?

Tusky

Trí wrote: »

Wow - that looks great.

Where do you get 'Ghiradelli' cocoa powder though? I've never heard of it?

I couldnt find it either. Just used this:



Had it again today reheated with cheese, sour cream and tortillas. Even nicer than yesterday!

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Cocoa powder?! Well I never. Definitely trying that though, lovely looking recipe, thanks

--LOS--

wow that's a lot of ingredients!


mmm cocoa powder, I've that a'plenty

ItsAWindUp

Looks great, trying this out tomorrow!

Tusky

Let me know how yea get on with it.

entropi

That looks pretty cool, thanks for sharing!

fillefatale

I have the same problem! All my chilli's have lacked a certain spark and I was going to give up... definitely trying this out soon!

Tusky

Did anyone give it a go?

anothernight

Tusky wrote: »

Did anyone give it a go?

I didn't really make a chilli in the strictest sense of the word, but since I was making some sort of bean-based food and they were a bit spicy anyway, I put some cocoa powder into it to see what it would do. I really liked it I must say. I think I might do that more often.

Tusky

anothernight wrote: »

I didn't really make a chilli in the strictest sense of the word, but since I was making some sort of bean-based food and they were a bit spicy anyway, I put some cocoa powder into it to see what it would do. I really liked it I must say. I think I might do that more often.

Cocoa is traditionally used in Mexican chili's as far I know.

fillefatale

I've made this twice now and I absolutely love it! Its so tasty even just served with tortilla chips on their own! I'm going to make it again this week.

Mellor

Wurly wrote: »

Where do you get 'Ghiradelli' cocoa powder though? I've never heard of it?

Its from San Francisco, but any strong cocao should work.

Tusky wrote: »

Cocoa is traditionally used in Mexican chili's as far I know.

Well, Chili isn't actually a mexican dish. Plus its ingredients are often disputed, beans v no beans, tomatoes or not etc.

But Mole is a traditional mexican sauce made from chilli and chocolate/cocao. So its not uncommon in various varieties i'd say.

Tusky

Mellor wrote: »

Its from San Francisco, but any strong cocao should work.

Well, Chili isn't actually a mexican dish. Plus its ingredients are often disputed, beans v no beans, tomatoes or not etc.

But Mole is a traditional mexican sauce made from chilli and chocolate/cocao. So its not uncommon in various varieties i'd say.

Isnt it? Where is it from than - Southern America?

fillefatale wrote: »

I've made this twice now and I absolutely love it! Its so tasty even just served with tortilla chips on their own! I'm going to make it again this week.

Glad to hear it!

Mellor

Tusky wrote: »

Isnt it? Where is it from than - Southern America?

Texas.

The original Tex-Mex dish.

If there is any doubt about what the Mexicans think about chili, the Diccionario de Mejicanismos, published in 1959, defines chili con carne as (roughly translated):

“detestable food passing itself off as Mexican, sold in the U.S. from Texas to New York.”