Chili Fest Chili

Chili Fest Chili With Yogurt-Cilantro Topping

This is chili with a kick.  I entered it into my husband’s coveted chili cook-off at work today.  I won 2nd place last year.  Back then, I had by chance already made chili for the family when Porter had mentioned the contest.  It was different because I had just tried a tip I picked up from the Food Network about using couscous to thicken the chili.  It worked!

This year, I decided to pull out the big guns with this recipe I found in “Moosewood Restaurant, Cooking For Health.”  It looks like their latest book and I consider whatever they write to be a bible for vegetarians.  It has some intriguing ingredients like cinnamon, molasses, cloves and the big kick and flavor from chipotle pepper in Adobo sauce.  Not being conservative with the chipotle led to my downfall for this competition as it turned out too hot for most.  It was helped with the use of chips and the topping of cilantro yogurt also cooled things off.

I am telling you as a warning so you don’t make my mistake, esp if you are cooking for others who don’t like their food too spicy, like my husband.  I do just fine and I kept wanting more.  The chipotle burns your tongue and you can feel the warmth from the cloves in the back of your throat.  I my eyes got teary and my nose was getting runny, but I was ready for more…Maybe it would be a great cold reliever!

Serves 6 to 8, yields about 9 cups, time:  ~ an hour

Ingredients

• 2 tblsps vegetable oil
• 1 cup diced onions
• 2 cups diced bell peppers
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 1/2 tblsps ground cumin
• 1 tblsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tblsp paprika
• 1 tblsp canned chipotles in adobo sauce (I used a rounded tblsp – don’t do that unless you like your chili fiery.  Use less than tblsp if making for others that don’t like things very spicy)
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tblsp molasses
• 2 15-oz cans red kidney beans, undrained (I used mostly from scratch that I had on hand)
• salt
• 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• 3 tblsps chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. In a soup pot on high heat, warm the oil briefly and then add the onions and bell peppers and saute for 5 minutes.  Add the carrots and celery, reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in the cumin, coriander, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, and paprika, cover, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so the spices won’t stick.
3. Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the chipotles and adobo sauce with the tomatoes.  Add the pureed tomatoes, the molasses, and the beans with their liquid, to the soup pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer, stirring often, for 30 minutes.  Add salt to taste.
4. While the chili is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the yogurt and cilantro and set aside.
5. Serve the chili topped with the cilantro yogurt.

Variations: (I’m looking forward to trying this in the future) Add tempeh:  Cut 8 ounces of tempeh into 1/2-inch cubes.  Warm a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet on medium-high heat and cook the tempeh cubes, stirring often, until browned, about 5 minutes.  Stir in a tablespoon of soy sauce.  Add the browned tempeh to the chili just before serving.

Adjust the amount of chipotles to suit your taste for “hot.”  You can start with less and add more finely minced chipotles after the chili has simmered for 15 or 20 minutes.

Use 1 can of red kidney beans and 1 can of black beans.

Per 1 serving, 1 generous cup – calories:  210, protein:  11g, carbs: 34g, fiber: 8g, total fat: 5g, saturated fat: 1g, monounsaturated fat: 2g, cholesterol: 1mg, sodium: 212mg