Like any good Texan, I love a good chili and it’s one of the dishes I miss most since going veggie. It’s hard to vegetarianize a dish that gets so much of its flavor from stewing meat into a sauce, but this version I like for the vegetarian style that it is. It’s overflowing with vegetables and makes a tasty, healthier alternative to the traditional southern dish.
*Update* I recently made this dish for my mom and when the grocery store didn’t have any chilies in stock (I KNOW!!) I substituted chipotle chili paste with amazing results. The chipotles brought a great smokey flavor to it, so I have tweaked the recipe accordingly.
[Prep: 10min / Cook: 30min]
Ingredients– 1 onion
– 1 red chili
– 1 chipotle pepper (or 1 tsp chipotle paste)
– 3 garlic cloves
– knob of fresh ginger
– 1 carrot
– 1 red pepper
– 2-3 celery stalks
– ground cumin
– ground coriander
– chili flakes
– chili powder
– salt & pepper
– 400g (14oz) can of chopped tomatoes
– 400g (14 oz) can of red beans
– 1 cup vegetable stock
– fresh coriander/cilantro
- Chop the onion, chili, chipotle and garlic. Heat with plenty of olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Peel the ginger and then grate it directly into the pot so all the lovely ginger juice will drip into the pot.
- Meanwhile, chop the carrot, pepper and celery. Add to the pot once the onions start to get nicely golden and a little soft (about 3min). Season with a hefty dash of each of the spices and cook for 5 minutes more.
- Add the tomatoes, beans and stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer with the lid on for about 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Top with chopped cilantro to serve.
[Serves 2 and then some]
Notes- Of course, you can turn up and down the heat of the chili to suit your taste by altering the amount of fresh chili(s) and spices you use.
- Want more protein? Throw in some black lentils to ‘beef’ it up a bit (I’m a fan of the pre-packaged, pre-cooked Beluga ones).
- This is the ‘fast’ version of this chili and like many stew-like foods, the flavors in this get better with time. If you have the time, it’s worth turning the heat down low and letting the chili cook on the stove for a full hour or two, like a soup. Alternatively, the flavors also amplify well after sitting in the fridge over night …
- You can also achieve the slow-cooked flavor by actually cooking it in a slow cooker. Follow steps 1&2 on the stovetop as above, but then move all ingredients to a slow cooker for 2-4 hours to finish it off.
- I like to make a very simple side dish of cottage cheese mixed with chopped cucumber and topped with coarse ground pepper to go with this to offset the heat.
- With all it’s vegetables, this chili is best eaten out of a bowl with a nice slice of bread or a roll on the side to soak up some of the sauce.
- Of course, no one is going to stop you from plopping it on a baked potato either.