Considering the vast quantities of chili powder I like to make, it should come as no surprise that I make vast quantities of chili. This is IPB Manor’s weekly standard, in part because it’s delicious and uses up a lot of summer produce, but also because the leftovers make for fantastic lunches. I realize chili is, for some people, a religious thing, and they would find my approach to it bordering on profane; to them I say, “Well, I’m from Jersey. What do you expect?” Anyway, here’s the skinny on how I make my own cavernous vat of the stuff.
Start by sweating up (in a VERY large pot) a boatload of chopped veggies of the “chili base” variety in a few tablespoons of oil. I go with about 4 average-sized yellow onions (or white, or red, or any combo thereof — whatever’s on hand, and whatever will yield about 2-3 cups when chopped), six cloves of garlic (minced), 6 bell peppers (I like to go with 2 each of green, yellow and red. This week I had just red and green from the farm) and hot peppers, finely minced, to taste (my preference is 3 habaneros. Some might find this a bit on the “rocket hot” end of the scale, but I feel like anything sub-habanero coming from my grocery store really tends not to taste like much of anything at all). Once everything’s softened up pretty well, stir in a heaping tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, 3-4 heaping tablespoons of chili powder (my homemade chili powder is very cumin-y, so I don’t have to add extra, but back in the days of using storebought chili powder, I’d toss in a tablespoon or two of ground cumin as well), and a few teaspoons of kosher salt. Let that get fragrant for a minute or so, then stir in 3 pounds of ground pork (or turkey, or beef, or any combo. I don’t eat beef, and used to make this exclusively with turkey, but I like the flavor and slightly increased fattiness of the pork), and let that brown up while stirring regularly to make sure everything’s getting well combined. Once the pork is evenly cooked, stir in one large (28 oz.? Is that the standard large size?) can of diced tomatoes and one bottle of beer (I use Yuengling Black and Tan, but anything would do. And the recipe I started out on my life’s chili journey with just called for two cans of tomatoes). Let that come to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes or so. Once all the flavors have melded, stir in four 15-ounce cans of beans that have been drained and rinsed (I use two cans of kidney and two of black beans) and a handful of chopped fresh cilantro. Heat until the beans are warmed, then serve over brown rice and top with grated cheddar cheese.
Now, when I first started out, I was using a recipe I saw on Food Network that was totally vegetarian — instead of meat, it called for 4 zucchinis, coarsely chopped. That’s a nice alternative for the non-meat-eating set, and also a useful outlet for those piles of summer squash threatening to overtake my fridge. Another alternate route to take with this recipe is to go all “Cincinnati-style” and put in a teaspoon or so of cinnamon with the other spices and then serve atop buttered egg noodles. Either way, this is the meal we most commonly eat at IPB Manor — I’ve probably been making this once a week now for at least three years. And I hope to never stop, because it’s quick, easy, and frankly, scrumptious!
(Oh, and this week I had a bit of extra get-up-and-go, so I whipped up a cornbread in which I — gasp! — “winged it” by adding chopped jalapeno and fresh corn kernels to the recipe on the back of the Quaker cornmeal container. It was shockingly out of character for me. But quite tasty!)
I can’t stop salivating!! Thanks for the recipe! Question: how many servings does this recipe produce? It seems like enough chili for an army and I don’t think I have a pot big enough. I’ll probably cut the recipe in half and I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again, I can’t wait to make it.
I realize that I am superspoiled by the fact that I live with someone who loves to cook and who is so good at it. But I am never more appreciative of it than when I’m eating lunch at work. While my coworkers are zapping over-priced, poor-quality, unhealthy microwave meals, I’m chowing down on a bowl of fresh, homemade chili (often with farm ingredients) that cost me next to nothing!
It seems like enough chili for an army
I wanted Schnookie to take a picture of the giant stack of leftover-filled Tupperwares, but she didn’t. It does make a HUGE amount of chili, but it’s the perfect amount for 3 dinners and then 10 lunches.
Yeah, kms2, this does indeed make enough to feed an army. This week we got three dinners and TWELVE lunches out of it. Halving it is probably the sane way to go! :D
YAY! *throws confetti, lets off balloons, strikes up a band* YOU WINGED IT! Congratulations!
I must say I was up and down while reading the recipe – I whined at the cocoa powder (I have an aversion to all things cocoa related) but perked up at the mention of the beer.
I make a wonderful vegetarian chili that I am quite proud of and usually whip up a batch of baking powder biscuits to go with it.
Thanks for the congrats, HG! I was so proud of myself, that to celebrate I think I’ll adhere very closely to all the recipes I make in the next six months.
I think this recipe would be fine without any chocolate. The original version used unsweetened bakers chocolate (just an ounce of it) that was melted in when the beans were added; I think it was kind of just to add some richness since the vegetarian version was just zucchinis and tomatoes, basically. I got tired of chopping the chocolate and just switched to the cocoa powder, but I doubt it’s an essential element at all — I suspect all it does is give my chili a darker color.
So what goes into your awesome veggie chili? (And I ADORE baking powder biscuits. Even more than that, though, I adore buttermilk biscuits. I like to make those with chicken barley soup in the wintertime… (Is it winter yet?)
My veggie chili is the end product of winging it. I don’t make as much as you do but it’s probably because my slow cooker isn’t that big. :D
First up, chop 1 large yellow or white onion. Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the slow cooker and turn on high. Add the onion and 5-6 cloves of peeled, smushed garlic. While the cooker is heating up, the onion and garlic will soften.
Open and rinse 3 large (14 oz.) cans of beans. I usually use one of kidney, one of garbanzo, one of black. I have been known to throw in one small one of mixed (pinto, navy, etc.) if it’s on hand. Add one large can of diced tomatoes (and if the tomatoes on the counter are looking sad, I’ll chop them and throw them in too).
At this point the slow cooker is getting full so I carefully stir in one package of Yves Veggie Ground Round (Original Flavour). I add salt, pepper, TexMex Spice Mix, dried chilis and a dash of cinnamon (again, no measuring here, just pure winging). Put the lid on the slow cooker and leave it on high for about 5 hours, stirring occasionally, tasting as well to make sure it’s not missing anything. Once the liquid has started to disappear, it’s time to turn it down to low and get the biscuits going.
I think that’s all.
That sounds scrumptious! (I also don’t really measure my spices at this point — but I was trying to give kms2 some guidelines…) I might have to try garbanzo beans someday in my chili; that seems like it would be a really nice change.
I am currently eating my leftover chili for lunch and it is SO GOOD.
I just made the chili!! And sure enough, even though I halved the recipe, my largest pot (which is actually a medium-sized pot) wasn’t big enough so I had to transfer some to another smaller pot. I couldn’t find habenero peppers so I used a couple chipotle peppers in adobe sauce. I used three bell peppers, yellow, orange, and red, thickened the chili with some cornstarch and added some Old Bay to the smaller pot to see how it would taste. Both batches taste amazing and now I have chili for the next week. Thanks for the recipe!
Oh my god with the cool weather we’ve had these past few days, chili sounds absolutely amazing. I wish I liked peppers more (it’s not the flavor, which I like, but the consistency – I have issues with cruchyslimy things, so I don’t like cooked onions either, but usually I’ll just chop them up huge and then pick them out later because the flavor is way too good), but I think I’m going to try anyway and add zucchini and maybe some other vegetables to replace them.
And HG garbanzo beans are absolutely my favorite and I never thought to put them in chili! I’m totallyt ryin that next time :D
kms2, I’m so glad to hear the chili worked out! I think chipotles in adobo sounds like a fantastic addition to this — I might have to try that soon.
And Steph, we just got back from our trip to New Orleans to discover it’s been 60 and rainy all day here. First of all, I can’t believe I had to waste a 60-degrees-and-rainy day traveling, and second, it is SO chili weather now! (Um, what’s the likelihood it holds like this?)
Sounds pretty damn good! Just to share what we do for vegetarian chili around our house: I cube and marinate a block of firm tofu (what do you expect? I’m from California) into about 1/2 to 1 inch cubes. After marinating them for about an hour, drain the juice and spread them out on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, turning once or twice. Add it to the chili near the end, just to warm it through. The tofu firms up and gets a wonderful meaty texture to it. It also really takes on the flavor of the chili. Try it, I swear you’ll like it!
marinade(I usually eyeball it, so the figures aren’t exact):
about 1 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
2 cloves crushed garlic
couple drops of liquid smoke
Schnookie, the only other time I used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce was for a fajita recipe I found. I halved the entire marinade recipe except for the peppers because I forgot to cut that part in half. The fajitas turned out so incredibly spicy and my eyes were getting teary when I was cooking it because the peppers were so potent.
Andrew, I love tofu! I’ll have to try it in chili.
andrew, that tofu angle sounds very interesting! Now I just need to figure out a way to convince Pookie it’s not tofu… I actually love anything that employs liquid smoke. I bought a bottle of that stuff about three years ago to make barbeque sauce, and it is just so fascinating!
kms2, I have only used chipotles in adobo for one specific recipe (I don’t doubt I’ll be doing a post about it soon…) that involves tomatoes and noodles and chorizo. And I just kind of eyeball how many peppers should go into the sauce depending on how many tomatoes I started out with, so sometimes it’s just nice and spicy, while other times the dish earns the name “Dragon Noodles”. It’s a magic ingredient, though — I love it.
Liquid smoke is pretty darn cool. I probably use it more often than I should.
As for the tofu, kms2, you’ll dig it! Schnookie, just cook the shit out of and Pookie will think it’s overdone meat! Just kidding, but actually the longer you cook it, the more firm and crunchy (no pun intended) it will get. So the time is flexible depending on how done (firm) you want it.
One of my favorite dishes is Japanese curry and you can use any meat and/or tofu. One time I made it with chicken and tofu and had (mistakenly) told the BF (who is from Louisiana) that it had tofu in it. Well, as he started to try it, he said, “I don’t want to offend you, but I’m going to take out all the tofu since it’s full of fat.” I stared at him like he was f’ing retarded and (as politely as I could) told him that tofu is full of protein, not fat. In fact, tofu is pretty damn good for you so there’s no need to take it out. Afterwards we had a pretty good laugh about it.
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