Chili non Carne (aka, fuck meat)

Mmmm... You know what? Me likey chili. I've been working at a private club now, for a while, as a jr. chef., and the sous chef there was raised in the south. Definately has some talent when it comes to things like chili and gumbo (oooh, look out for my gumbo post, some day, heh). So, basically I took his ideas, added what I have learned essential for vegan flavors.... and made meself some chileh. I mean chili. Whatever.

So, the basis of any chili is definately the chili powder. Which means.... don't buy one. "You can't buy flavor" as my sous chef says. I don't really like the guy, but I _do_ respect his cooking, soo... yeah. You can't. You can, however, buy ingredients, and make a chili powder that suits your tastes. My chili powder goes as follows:

5x small dried chipotle peppers

1x large dried paprika pepper

2x med. ... ... ... something pepper (any dried peppers can do, just find stuff you like. I don't even remember what these are, since I bought them like.... atleast 2 years ago and tore the label off.

3ish tbl cumin seeds (get wh. seeds, no powder)

2 tbl ground coriander

2 tbl oregano

2 tbl marjoram

1 tsp cinnamon

(opt) 1 tsp cocoa powder

~12 various peppercorn, whole

The idea of a chili powder, or any southwest/south american dry rub, is to just... think about what they like down there. Hence my additions of cinnamon and cocoa powder. Of course, as always, I am not entirely measuring my seasonings. Just kinda dump 'em in there. Learn what you like, make it up as you go - this is just a guide.

When making the chili powder, the important part is to 'toast' the chilies, as well as the cumin seed. To do so, heat up a small saute pan, I have one of those 8" egg pans - I mean vegan non-egg pans! - that I use. Heat it over a medium-high heat; let it go for atleast 15 - 20 mins, so it reaches a radiating heat. Keep it dry (no oil) and add the dry chilies. Stick around for this (no walking away!) and keep rotating the chilies (easiest done by hand, but I have a lot of burns to testify against doing it... so.... whatever way you can manage). Basically you are looking to get a really good black color on each side of the peppers. !!before it reaches this point, add the cumin seeds (*not cumin powder) about 3/4's of the way through toasting the peppers.

Once everything becomes airomatic remove them all from heat. Put them all on to a plate, or bowl, to cool them down, or just be a man and keep them in a pan as you remove the stems. Whatever. Whatever it is you do, just remove the stems from the dried chilies and put them in to a beat-grinder (one of those basic, cheap coffee grinders?) along with all of the other ingredients, including the (now) toasted cumins seeds. Blend up 'til you have a tasty-ass chili powder. Mofo.

Okay, so... that was step one - did I mention that this was a time-consuming recipe? Well... it is. That was just step one, right? Beyond that, you have some veggies to cut up:

3x onion

3x Anaheim peppers (fresh)

2x Sweet green Bell Pepper

4x Jalapeno pepper w/seeds

2x Carrots

4x celery stalk

3x "fist" garlic - yes, I'm srsl. The whole fist, or bulb.

Take the onions, peppers, celery, and carrots and small dice them (1/4 inch x 1/4 inch cut)

peel and mince the garlic - time consuming, I know.

At this point (actually, before you mince the garlic, since you have the time while you do so) you want to heat a really big pot under a medium heat. Go ahead and do some songs and dance and minces while letting it heat, as it does take a while. Give it atleast 30 mins to reach full heat. Once everything is cut up, add about 1 cup of olive oil (which will probably start smoking, meaning that it has reached a too-hot point - so toss the garlic in immediately!) - and add the minced garlic. Keep the garlic stir-frying over a medium heat until the majority of it begins to brown and emits that oh-so-great toasted garlic smell. mmm.... Over that heat, it is usually around 5 - 10 mins, it can vary depending on your stirring skillz and the heat of your stove. Just don't let it brown too much.

Once the garlic is a goldish-brown color, add your other veggies. Stir them up and add about... maybe 1/2 cup of chili powder - should be about 3/4s of what you made. Stir it all up so the olive oil & the chili powder coats all of the veggies. Keep them sauteing over a medium heat. It takes a bit, but let them cook until the onions turn translucent... probably 15 mins or 20 mins. If you have a good lager beer (PBR or MGD, etc) add one now. If so, cook it down for a couple of minutes. Now add your beans:

about 2 cups black beans

abouts 2 cups chili beans

When it comes to beans, make sure you soak them over night. They should... roughly(?) double in size. the measurements provided are for after soaking.

So, add the beans, then add about a tbl of salt & enough water to cover them by about.... 4 inches or so? I don't measure so well. Just do it around that and let it cook until the beans can be easily eaten. At this point you have a tasty bean soup. Some people tell you that you can have a non-tomato based chili, but... well... I don't agree. I always prefer a chili that has a good tomato base - if you agree, read on.

once the beans are cooked, you shouldn't have too much bean broth left over; maybe about 1 inch left, over the beans & veggies. Add:

2x 28oz can of whole tomatoes, blended to a sauce

So, you could just take the easy way, and add (does some quick math) 56oz of tomato sauce. Honestly, I don't think it's the same. I was adviced by a chef, once, that canning companies put their least-worthy tomatoes in to the 'sauce' pot for the tomato sauce. She added that it was best to buy cans of whole tomatoes and blend them yourself - hence my recommendation here.

Anyways, blend them up and add them to the bean-broth chili you have going. Let that cook down for a while, and in the mean-time, do this:

take 5x on-the-vine tomatoes (or any med. tomatoes)

2x yellow onion

slice in to 1/2 inch circles. Pretty thick disks from both tomatoes and onions. You should have some chili powder left over from that recipe I mentioned (about 1/4 of it left). Heat up a really large saute pan (I have around a 15" saute - very large) to about a med-high to high heat and add a little bit of olive oil, once it's hot. Before the oil smokes too much, sprinkle half the chili powder on the tomato slices, and half on the onion slices. Place them, seasoning-side-down, in the oiled pan, and let sear for... quite a while. Really, quite a while. You want the seasonings, and the tomato/onion to blacken under the heat. As I quoted earlier, 'You can't buy flavor". It will probably take 2 or 3 or 4 batches to "blacken" all of the tomatoes & onion slices, but it is worth it. Just do it early while you allow everything else to cook; then refridgerate. Once cool enough to handle, cut in to a large dice (1/2 inch cuts or so) and toss in to the chili pot, after adding the tomato sauce.

Give the tomato sauced chili atleast 2 hours to cook down over a medium heat (with or without the seared tomato/onion) until it doesn't have an acidic taste. It's basically done at this point; with preference, you can add some roasted corn, or tempeh, or even take some delicious Garden Burger brand Chipotle Black Bean Burgers (A shame I don't get free stuff for this :( ) in to your servings, and enjoy. I generally serve mine over rice for the added startch.