Chili
Chili is one of our favorite winter meals. We cook a bunch in the crock pot, when it's cold and there's nothing like a hot bowl of chili to warm cold bones.
Click on the recipe name and you'll be taken to that recipe below:
BElias' Sweet fire Vegetarian Chili - from a friend at work.
Pork BBQ Chili - I made this one up.
Those of you who know me know it would take a heckuva vegetarian chili to include it on my site. This is an excellent chili that a friend at work made. It won one of our chili contests at work. The TVP that he used reminded me of smoked sausage. The consistency would be like cubing the smoked sausage in 1/4" pieces and frying it until it's almost crispy.
BElias' Sweet fire
Vegetarian Chili
2 16 oz cans Diced tomatoes
1 12 oz can tomato paste
2 tablespoon Minced garlic
1 Half box Dark brown sugar
1 cup Honey
1/8 cup Molasses
3/4 cup Fresh chopped basil
1 16oz can Red kidney beans
1 16oz can black beans
Meat-spiced TVP (textured vegetable protein)
2-3 cups dry large chunks (about 1 inch cubes)
1 Medium Vidalia onion
1 each Red, yellow, orange, green, white, and purple bell peppers
1 cup Chopped Banana peppers
Homegrown Thai Dragon hot peppers to taste (when chopped mine came to about 1/8
cup) substitute Habanero or favorite hot peppers to taste.
Note on
TVP from the author: Available at organic foods stores like Home Economist (Independence Blvd,
Charlotte, NC)
or Talley's Green Grocery (East Rd and Kenilworth Rd in Dilworth, Charlotte, NC).
Cook it in hot
water in for just a few minutes, then put it on low heat for up to an hour to seal in
spices. Quick prep can be done in under 15 minutes.
I find that using about 1/3 part vegetable oil makes the texture chewier and holds spices better. I use beef bullion, meat marinade spices, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, garlic salt, and some red wine. I put most of this stuff in the boiling water first, then add more as the TVP cooks down on low to medium heat. When the chunks are fully tender I then throw them in a frying pan on medium high to singe them a bit, giving them a slightly grilled effect.
TVP is very flexible; you can cook and spice it just about any way you want. I like to add only about half the hot peppers and basil into the base sauce. I then add the rest, along with some brown sugar, ''on top of'' the whole mix, after all the beans and bell peppers and whatever else are added. I like to fold the TVP in as late as possible before serving so its own spices don't blend too much with the rest of the chili.
I like to keep the TVP flavor fairly distinct from the spicy sweetness. TVP can lose flavor pretty quickly, so I don't simmer the chili much after adding it. I don't like to cook the veggies into the chili too much. I like to leave a good crunch and flavor to them. Also they put out a lot of water the more they cook, so I find I need some thickener, like cornstarch, sometimes to adjust the overall consistency. The less water started with the better.
I put this recipe together based on ideas from a few of my favorite recipes. I've actually gotten to where I prefer it with ground venison substituted for the pork. I guess I can call it my 'award winning' chili since it has won both a chili contest at work and a contest hosted by a local restaurant/bar.
Pork BBQ Chili
3 lb Meat
Flour for roux
Red Pepper and Garlic Powder
2 tablespoon Olive oil
2 cups or 1 14 ounce can chicken broth
2 14 ounce cans tomatoes (I usually use the chopped chili style)
1 6 ounce can tomato
paste
1 bottle Hickory BBQ Sauce
1 bottle Beer
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoon Chopped garlic
3 tablespoon Chili powder
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Black pepper
2 Small onions, chopped
4 Jalapeno peppers, chopped
4 Serrano peppers, chopped
4 Chipotle peppers,
chipped (I use the ones that come packed in adobo sauce and will add a couple of
tablespoons of the sauce to the chili as well.)
1 Green bell pepper, chopped
1 Yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 Red bell pepper, chopped
1 28 ounce can BBQ/Hickory flavor baked beans
2 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 15 ounce can great northern beans, drained
Start browning the meat in the olive oil, while you combine the other ingredients in your biggest crock pot. I like to season the meat with ground red pepper (cayenne or Korean kochu) and garlic powder. As it is browned, add it to the chili. If you're making this with port, don't over cook the meat, just brown it. It should have plenty of time to cook later.
In a crock pot combine the chicken broth, tomatoes, BBQ sauce, beer, lime juice and spices. Chop the hot peppers and onions and add to mixture. Since you've
got the lime and the beer, now is a good time to add at least one Corona to the
cook. When the meat is done, add a rounded tablespoon of
flour to the remaining oil and form a roux. Let the roux brown for a couple of
minutes and add to the chili. This adds thickness to the chili, if you like a
thinner chili, you can skip this step. Chop the remaining peppers (the green,
yellow and red bell peppers) and
set aside. Bring the chili up to temperature and then refrigerate it overnight.
The next day, heat the chili back up, add the mild peppers and beans (drain the
black and great northern beans) and let cook until you're ready to serve.