CHILI

(Just make it, don’t ask questions)

I’m calling this “Chili” with no bells, whistles, because I want you to stay engaged.

Because if I said it’s real title, you’d flip the page faster than you normally would.

So . . . shhhhhh . . . . it’s vegetarian. Please keep reading.

It’s not a secret I don’t eat a lot of land meat (maybe a handful of times a year, and only very small amounts), but I definitely cook meat, and I harbor no judgment for anyone who does consume it on a regular basis.  I have a health thing.  I’ll leave it at that, because whining becomes no one.  

Anyway, I’m always on the hunt for stuff that has the savory heft of meat without meat.  Since we all know that meat substitutes generally are awful, here is a (relatively) healthy chili recipe that is adapted from my perennial favorite cookbook guy, Kenji Lopez-Alt. This recipe deploys a lot of tactics like marmite and miso, to up the umami we miss from the meat.

  INGREDIENTSS

Garnishes: cilantro, limes, onion, sour cream, guacamole, chips, green onion, fresh corn kernels, tortillas or chips.

Cook dried chiles for a few minutes over medium-high heat in a large stock pot or Dutch oven, stirring frequently, until slightly darkened and smelling great, but not smoking, and add the stock.  Bring mixture to a simmer, simmering around 5 minutes, and then blend in batches in a conventional blender or all at once using an immersion blender until smooth.  Remove from pot unless you have another comparable pot; you’ll need it for later.

Drain chickpeas and reserve the liquid.  Pulse the chickpeas in a food processor until roughly chopped and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mash up the tomatoes and add the chickpea liquid.

Pull the chipotles out of the can and finely chop.  Set aside and reserve the adobo.

Add oil to the same (or different if you have two) large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook onions until soften, then add garlic, cumin, and dried oregano and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about a minute. Add chipotles, puréed dried chiles, miso, marmite and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant for another minute. Add reserved chickpea/tomato mixture, chopped chickpeas and kidney beans (but reserve the kidney bean liquid).

Bring everything up to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for around 2 hours, adding kidney bean liquid as needed if things are looking a little thick or gnarly.  Whisk in the bourbon and flour or masa until the desired thickness is reached.  Add lime juice and taste and adjust salt/pepper.

You’ll want to let this hang out a few days, because it will taste better later, but if you want to dig in sooner, let cool a bit.  Serve with all the garnishes.