Hello.  My name is Pixy.  I am addicted to my own chili recipe.  (Hi, Pixy.)

I guess I should clarify before you think I’m too terribly arrogant – this recipe started with Rachael Ray’s Black Bean Chili Stoup recipe (soup and stew put together) but I’ve tweaked and renamed it and hugged it and squeezed it and called it my very own.

How many years has it been, Mom?  My Mom and I love this recipe.  I bet we’ve been making this chili for at least 5 years or more.

And now I’ve gone and done yet another thing to it.  I took out the meat!  If you’re needing more veggies in your life (WHO ISN’T) then try this vegged up, tricked out version of my most favorite chili in the whole world.

It’s got everything – heat, warmth, spice, fresh bright crispy vegetables, dark black beans (mmmm), and don’t forget the savory tomatoes.  And spices?  Oh lawdy lawd!!

In fact, there’s nothing in this bad boy but veggies and beans!

My substitute for meat is finely chopped mushrooms.  If you douse them with Worcestershire sauce, they taste like some kind of meaty goodness, but instead, you’re getting all that vitamin D from the mushroom – something I need during these cloudy, cold January days.  If you don’t like mushrooms, I still invite you to try this because you can’t really pick up the flavor or texture of the mushrooms.  They’re just a filler.

Okay, here’s the recipe.  If you’d like the meat one, here’s the link:

https://pixyskansascity.com/2013/11/16/black-bean-chili/

CHILI SANS MEAT

INGREDIENTS:

dried beans (2 cups or so)

Olive oil, or ghee

1 box sliced mushrooms

1 onion

3-4 garlic cloves

Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cayenne (or less if you’re chicken)

kosher salt

2 or 3 red, yellow or orange bell peppers

2 jalapeños (seeds removed, unless you’re amazing)

2 cups veggie stock

1 28-ounce can tomatoes

fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

This recipe takes two pots.  Save your big dutch oven or soup pot for the final product and make the dried beans in your smaller pot.  Or use a slow cooker if you think ahead.

First, get your beans going. Rinse 2 cups dried black beans and place in a sauce pan, covering the beans with water.  Bring the water to a boil, take the pot off the heat, cover, and let sit for an hour.

Rinse the beans and put back in the pot, covering again with fresh water.  Cook on the stove on medium heat, covered, for 45 minutes or until desired doneness.

While your beans are cooking, get that big dutch oven out and start cooking the rest of the yummy veggies.

Add a little olive oil or ghee to the pot and drop in 1 chopped onion, 2-3 minced garlic cloves, and cook at medium heat till soft and fragrant.  Season with kosher salt.

Drop in the finely chopped mushrooms and brown. (The mushrooms look even more like meat if you grind them in a food processor)

After the mushrooms brown, douse with at least 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (the Lea and Perrins brand is gluten free).  You can also use liquid or coconut aminos.

Start tossing in all your spices:  cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, more salt.

Add your bell peppers, jalapeños, 2 cups veggie stock and a 28-ounce can of tomatoes, and bring to a boil.

Let that simmer until your beans are done.  As this point, you can either just add your beans for a thicker chili, or add the beans with their liquid, which is delicious.

Serve with chopped cilantro. 

 

My husband refused to go to the store just for cilantro, so here is a picture of the naked chili.  I think it looks lonely without its fresh, green counterpart…

but I still ate two bowls.