As I sit here eating chili cheese tots with the leftover chili form last night, it dawned on me that maybe I should share.
It's the end of the month and that means the pantry and frig are looking a little...well let's just say I can actually see the shelves in the frig and pantry k?
It is rainy and cold. Good night for chili right?
Crap. I have only white beans. Ooooh. I have sweet potatoes too... hmmmm.
Well, that wouldn't be too bad. Let's make a chili that has both. Warm and yummy and hearty. Perfect for a cold night.
Doesn't that look yummy?
Don't lie, you know it does.
If you don't like sweet potatoes, you've never had them this way. They add just a tiny, infinitesimal hint of sweetness. Awesome if you like your chili spiceh, spiceh, spiceh.
Channeling my inner donkey. Sorry.
To start off with you need one whole onion. Chop it into bits.
Wait, scratch that. Spices. You need spices.
I was out of powdered cumin and coriander but I had seeds which are a million times better anyway, jsut take and extra step.
Warm up a ginormous pot with a little olive oil in the bottom.
Get out your handy dandy spice squisher. (Also known as a mortar and pestle.)
If you do not have a squisher, then a rolling pin works to a the meat pounder (tenderizer).
Pound or squish until seeds are cracked. Like this.
See. Happy seeds. They are gonna be even happier when you throw them in hot, smoldering oil where they will fry their tooshies off. And get all smelly and yummy.
While they are getting happy, chop the onion. Chop a bell pepper up too.
Toss the onion in the pot with the now orgasmically happy seeds.
When onions are translucent-ish, toss in pepper too.
While they are getting happy together, chop you sweet potatoes in chunks.
See? Chunks. Now you know the difference between chunks and bits. These are little chunks because my stove is retarded. It doesn't like ginormous pans of anything let alone thick liquid.
Stupid stove.
*dreams of a gas viking*
...
...
...
Also de-thaw your beans if in freezer as mine were. If you are using a can, drain and rinse the beans.
No, the bean juice is NOT extra flavoring. Yuck.
You might also want to get out the bouillon, or in my case, Better than Bouillon.
Trust me, it's better.
This is a vegetarian base, so we use the veggie kind. Feel free to use chicken if you don't have veggie people in your house. No beef. This is not a beefy kinda meal. Use the beef in red chili.
Oh? Where to find it? Well here, Costco carries it in multiple flavors and so do our local grocery stores (Winco and Fred Meyer). I am sure you can find it in your local grocer. If not, the specialty stores like Whole Foods, etc probably have it.
It's worth it, trust me. Have I led you astray yet?
See, my point exactly.
Prepare your broth according to the box/jar directions.
Throw some more spices in the pot. Garlic. Check.
Chili powder. check
White Pepper. Check.
Salt. Check.
I use about 1Tbs of each except the salt. Only about 1-2 tsp to taste. I add the salt after the liquid so I know how much I need.
Let the new spices get happy with everything else for a minute or 2.
Pour a small amount of liquid in and "deglaze" the pot to get all the goodness off the bottom.
Now toss in everything else.
Stop playing basketball with the potatoes.
Poor Potatoes.
That's potato abuse.
Place them in the pot with the beans and liquid. If you want chicken, add that in now too. It needs to be pre-cooked though. (cut into strips or chunks and saute in olive oil on medium heat until cooked through. Make sure you salt and pepper it before you cook it.)
Turn heat to medium and simmer till everything gets all happy together. I usually give it 30 mins or so.
Go have an amaretto sour while your waiting. Pop in a movie. Play on Pinterest. Do some laundry. Whatever.
Tonight I watched the Smurfs with the kids in between stages of dinner.
When the smell drags you to the kitchen and your mouth is watering as you float toward the smell like Sylvester the cat...
Throw in some corn if you like that. I love corn in chili. MMMMMMM
Chop some cilantro.
Get out the sour cream.
And the bowls.
Taste one more time for necessary saltiness.
And serve.
I nuked some chicken nuggets and chopped them up and put on top. It was actually pretty good. Feel free to add chicken strips or chunks into the chili. I won't be offended.
Easy as pie (and pie isn't easy always). Ok easy as...a boxed dinner but with fresh ingredients.
Enjoy!
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