Winter Rituals: Chili 🌶️ [2022 Version]
January 8, 2022
Here it is! The season’s first chili. I look forward to the seasonal appropriate dish all year.
The Vegetables
Roasted tomatoes and tons of peppers
The Vegetables
1 white onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 ounce can chopped green chile peppers, drained
About 2 cups of peppers or other vegetables, assorted
2 Tb Olive oil
First Step
1.) Sauté onion, garlic and peppers/veggies with the olive oil until cooked through and slightly browned, approximately 5-6 minutes.
[Want to add some peppers or green onion to your cornbread? Diced them real fine and set aside!]
The Spice Blend / “Flava”
This is a general guide. Feel free to alter to your liking. Personally I thought this was a bit too spicy, but my cornbread would be a sweet balancing bite and the tofu sour cream could cool things down.
1 ½ Tb Chili powder
1 ½ TB vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 Tb Ground cumin
1 tablespoon Brown sugar
1 tsp Smoked paprika
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Ground black pepper
1 Bay leaf
Second Step
2.) Add all dry spices/flava to vegetables and stir to combine. Cook to activate the spices for a minute or two, then add the Worcestershire sauce. Stir all until well-incorporated.
Tomato & Texture
Tomato & Texture
1 cup Quinoa
1 28-ounce can Diced tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
3 cans of beans (15 ounce), rinsed and drained: Kidney, Navy and Pinto beans
Third & Final Step
3.) Add the quinoa, broth/water, and beans to the party. Stir to combine. Bring it to a boil, then let simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.
Garnishes
The possibilities are endless. I highly recommend garnishing your chili well–as a refuge for the heat but also an pleasing presentation. Options:
Avocado
Scallion
Leftover diced pepper
Diced white onion
Roasted okra… or roasted anything
Cilantro
Cornbread
This is one of my favorite recipes. It is award-winning, so don’t mess with perfection. Unless you’re going at add super finely diced veggies to it. It is rather sweet in my view, so feel free to cut the sugar slightly if you’re not pairing it with a spicy chili–in which case the sweetness is welcoming.
Ingredients
2 Tb Ground flax seed
6 Tb Water
1 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Cornmeal
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup Soy milk
1/4 cup canola oil
Optional veggies diced super fine
Steps
1.) Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2.) Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the ground flax seed, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the ground flax seed in the water for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
3.) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well-combined.
4.) Add the ground flax seed mixture, soy milk, and canola oil to the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth (do not overbeat.)
5.) Turn into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6.) Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.
Quick Tofu Sour Cream
Ingredients
1 package of Silken tofu
2 Tb Lemon juice
1 Tb Red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp Salt
Steps
1.) Place everything in a food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape the sides and blend again. Let it set an airtight container for at least an hour.