Chili Sin Carne

Chili Sin Carne

9 or 10 servings

Beans – 1 pound/2 cups dried (6 cups cooked) or 4) 15-ounce cans
Onion, diced – 1 large
Garlic, minced – 4 cloves
Sweet Pepper, diced – 1 large, any color
Hot Pepper, minced – 1 (optional)
Olive Oil – 3 tablespoons
Beef-flavored crumbles (Quorn) – 12 ounces
Tomatoes, canned petite diced – 28 ounces
Bouillon, beef
Cumin – 2 tablespoons or to taste
Chili Powder – 1 tablespoon or to taste
Oregano – 1 tablespoon
Worcestershire Sauce – dash
Liquid Smoke – dash
Red wine (1/4 cup) or soy sauce (1 Tbs) and/or nutritional yeast (1 Tbs) or heck, all 3
Tomato Paste – 2 tablespoons
Peanut Butter – 2-3 tablespoons

  • Pick through, rinse, and soak beans – 4 hours to overnight.
  • Simmer beans on low heat in their soak water until tender – 1 hour or so.
  • While the beans are cooking, chop vegetables.
  • In a large stock pot, sauté vegetables in 1 tablespoon olive oil.
  • Remove from pot and set aside.
  • In the stock pot, fry beef crumbles in 2 tablespoons olive oil.
  • Add the vegetables back in.
  • Add some red wine if you have it, or a little soy sauce, or nutritional yeast for umami.
  • Add the canned tomatoes, bouillon, cumin, and chili powder.
  • When the beans are done, add them and their cooking liquid to the stock pot.
  • Simmer until the tomatoes are soft, 15-30 minutes.
  • Add Tomato Paste, turn off heat, and let sit on the stove or counter for up to 4 hours.
  • To finish, taste and adjust seasoning, then thicken with peanut butter, bring to heat, and serve.

Notes:

  • Bean liquid – you should end up with about half an inch of liquid above the cooked beans. This isn’t scientific, but important because you need to be cautious about how much liquid you add to the chili. You don’t want to turn it into soup! If your finished beans have more than half an inch of liquid, you should drain some off and set it aside. You can always add the liquid later if the chili becomes too dry.
  • At any point you can refrigerate the chili and finish later.
  • I used Rancho Gordo’s Yellow Indian Woman beans. Any red or brown bean will do. I wouldn’t use white or black beans.
  • You can use ground beef instead of crumbles or even leave it out. The beans can stand on their own.