Impossible Chili
So it's starting to get cold here in New England. Which means it's time to make some chili!
Many years ago I learned of the concept of Rainbow Chili, where you try to add as many colors to it as you can. This is, unfortunately, not that recipe. Because that has no recipe, just some guidelines. But today I am going to make some vegan chili, since I have a few pounds of Impossible Beef (not sponsored) in the fridge.
Today's ingredients.
So any chili is a pretty straight forward process. Cut up your veggies, sauté them, cook your meat, then add your tomatoes, beans, and seasoning, and just let it sit there until it's done.
Recipe
For this batch, my recipe looks like this:
1 lb Impossible Beef
2 Green Peppers, large, diced
1 White Onion, large, diced
1/2 red onion, medium, diced
2 sweet potatoes, medium, diced fairly large (like 1/2" cubes)
1 can (24 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (11 oz) of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (11 oz) of white beans, drained
1 can (11 oz) of dark red beans, with liquid
about 1 TBsp of Braggs Aminos (optional)
6 oz (1/2 of a 12 oz bag) of frozen corn kernels.
Seasoning
Preperation
I diced the white onion fairly small, about 1/4". It's mostly for flavor.
I diced the green peppers and the red onion to about 3/8" so even after all the cooking they are still visible and give some color to the chili.
I peeled the sweet potatoes until I just saw dark orange; even though sometimes for stews and soups you can get away with leaving the light orange on there because you're going to cook it for a while, but I didn't this time. Then gave it a nice big dice because I was afraid they would break up a bit in the sauté. Next time I'll probably just go with the same as the peppers and red onions, they didn't break down nearly as much as I expected.
I just threw everything in the heated dutch oven dry, and began crumbling the impossible meat into the bottom of the pan right away. As it cooks it releases it's own fat which will help with cooking the veggies.
You could add vegan butter, or oil to the pan to help jump start this if you're in a rush, but I wasn't today.
Then I left it on medium-low heat (3 on my stove) and as I walked by over the next 40 minutes just made sure to give it a stir to keep anything from burning to the bottom.
If you wanted to add some beer for flavor, this would be the time...
Once all the veggies are nice and soft, it's time to add all our canned items.
First and foremost, get those tomatoes in there and mix them in real good. As you add each can, it will get harder to stir, so get the tomatoes in and mixed right away.
Next, I add the cans of beans all at once. I drain and wash the black beans, because the liquid will just make everything super dark if you don't.
I drain, but don't rinse the white beans, because the thicker bit of the starchy water helps thicken the chili without changing the color too much.
I just dump the whole can of red beans in because the color of the starchy water in the can is exactly the color I want for my chili.
Get that all stirred up. And while I was doing that I had found half a bag of frozen corn in my freezer, so I dumped that in too. Why not!
Once it's warmed all the way through, add your seasoning. I'll tell you what I do, but that's such a personal decision to make. I also won't shame you for using a pre-made packet. They're usually pretty good.
Mmmmm..... chili.......
Once it's nice and warm, add your seasoning and turn it down to low (1 on my stove) and make sure to stir it to keep it from burning. It'll just get better the longer it sits there melding flavors, but I suggest at least an hour or two to really get it good. The seasoning will intensify a little as it sits, as more water evaporates out, but not significant enough to make a difference.
My Seasoning
This time around I went super basic. I have a salt/pepper/garlic grinder that I gave a few turns on, then added just enough hot chili powder to taste it (we all know I'm a heat wuss), and whatever cumin I had left. Since I didn't add any jalapenos to this batch it never got super spicy and I could eat it even without sour cream. I kind of missed that though so next batch will have some again. I just didn't have any at home today.