Quick Dinner: Vegetarian Chili

These are the perfect beans for the navajo taco recipe I posted a few weeks ago.

Chili Sin Carne
adapted slightly from 1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes, 2nd Edition by Sue Spitler

12 ounces frozen vegetable protein crumbles
1.5 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper (red pepper works just fine too)
2 cloves garlic, minced (double the garlic)
1-2 tbsp (ancho) chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 cans (14.5 ounces) of chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 can (6 ounces) reduced-sodium tomato paste
3/4 cup dark beer (or water but the beer makes it 100x better)
1 tbsp packed light brown sugar
2-3 tsp unsweetened cocoa (or mexican cocoa)
1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans (or black beans), rinsed, drained
Salt, black and cayenne pepper to taste

Optional Toppings: cheddar cheese, green onions, and sour cream

1. Saute veggie grounds, onions, bell pepper, and garlic with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil until veggies are tender.

2. Add ancho chile powder, cumin, oregano, and cloves. Cook a few minutes longer or until fragrant.

3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, beer, brown sugar, and cocoa to soup mixture. Heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered for 1 hour.

4. Stir in beans. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into bowls or on navajo fry bread, added toppings.

**Make a double or triple batch and freeze the left-overs in plastic freezer bags or tupperware. TEB made a 6x recipe and we ate chili out of the freezer for the next 8 months.

photo credit: TEB 11.10.08