As the weather turns cold, I turn to the stock pot. We have a habit of making weekend soups. This part of our seasonal diet warms the house and the soul. It’s easy to incorporate preserved local foods into soups.
My chili is popular at our house. I made it recently for my husband’s birthday dinner. I cook it throughout the winter using my stash of frozen vegetables and home canned tomatoes. I believe in tossing what looks good into my chili, so the measurements are estimates.
1. In a frying pan, heat vegetable oil (I use Zoye) and fry the protein of your choice. Since mine is vegetarian chili, I use about one cup of soy-based, beef-style crumbles.
2. As the protein browns, add salt, pepper, ground cumin, and chili powder to taste. I use a light sprinkle of cumin powder and a heavy sprinkle of chili powder.
3. In a stock pot, heat vegetable oil and add the following chopped vegetables from your refrigerator or freezer: two small onions, ½ of a red bell pepper, about one green bell pepper.
4. Sauté a couple of minutes, then add three Serrano peppers (or to taste and include seeds for hotter chili). Cook until the onions are translucent.
5. Add two quarts of canned tomatoes, one-half to one cup of corn kernels, two chopped roasted Anaheim peppers, and a can of pinto beans.
6. Combine the protein mixture into the stock pot vegetable mixture.
7. Heat through and either serve immediately, or let it simmer to marry the flavors more.
My friend Emily recently took a fun poll of friends around the United States about chili. The results are below for what the respondents said MUST be in chili, could be in chili, and should NOT be in chili, and how hot they like it. Thank you Emily for the great graphics.
I think to be chilli it must have chilli powder. If you don't have that all you have is Mexican soup, which of coarse can be wonderful on its own.
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