Super Bowl Sunday usually has me doing two things, watching the half-time show (I don't care much for the game itself) and craving game-day foods like a big bowl of chili.
It also makes me not want to fuss in the kitchen, so I started with an easy recipe from Mark Bittman, Chili From Scratch, from Health Magazine in 2012. I chose Lightlife Plant-Based Ground to make it meat-free, used canned beans to use up my stash ad added one of my new secret weapon spices, One Hundred Beers of Solitude: Happy Citrus Sucker Punch for a little extra layer of flavor. You can put beer in chili and lime in chili so why not a little hoppy citrus blend? You can leave it out but it does add a certain vibrancy to the mix. (You can find it here with my friends at The Book Club Cookbook.)
Put the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add the ground meat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Adjust the heat so it sizzles steadily, and cook, stirring occasionally to break it up, until the meat browns all over (5-10 minutes).
Add the onion, and cook, stirring once in a while, until it softens and turns golden (3-5 minutes). Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and oregano, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes fragrant (another minute).
Add the tomatoes, chili, and beans to the pot, along with enough water to cover everything by 2-3 inches. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat so the mixture bubbles steadily, but not furiously, and cover. Cook, undisturbed, for 30 minutes. After that, stir the chili every 20 minutes or so and adjust the heat so it continues to bubble gently; add more water, 1/2 cup at a time, if the chili starts to stick to the bottom of the pot.
When the beans begin to soften (30-60 minutes, depending on the type of
bean and whether or not you soaked them and about 20-30 minutes for canned beans), sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Continue to cook, stirring occasionally and adding water if the pot
looks too dry, until the beans are quite tender but still intact--this
will take about the same amount of time as it took for them to soften.
When the beans are very tender, taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve,
garnished with the cilantro.
Mark Bittman Says, Change It Up:
Chili with Canned Beans: Using canned beans instead of dried cuts the
cooking time down to about 35 minutes: Drain and rinse about 4 cups, or 2
(15-ounce) cans, of canned beans; add them instead of the dried beans and don't add any water. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce the heat
to a bubble, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything
thickens (20 minutes or so).
Chili with All Sorts of Dried Beans: Try black beans, white beans, chickpeas, or lentils (lentils will be ready 30 minutes after you add them to the pot).
Notes/Results: A meat-free chili that you can proudly serve to carnivores. This one is medium-mild, smoky but with a bit of a citrus punch that to me is really pleasing. Keep of the sour cream and cheddar cheese or swap in non-dairy versions if you want it vegan. Don't leave out the Fritos Scoops though, they are a must for crunch and fun. An excellent couch lunch while watching the half-time show or game but I'm also taking it to lunch this week with some brown rice (and those Fritos). I would happily make it again.
Linking up with I Heart Cooking Clubs where it's Game Day! foods and dishes this week.
Now let's check out the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here!
Judy of Gluten Free A - Z Blog brought a Japanese Umami Soup with Kale and says, "It's officially soup season in some parts of the world, and this Japanese Umami soup with kale is officially a winner in my opinion. Japanese soups are light and broth-like. This Japanese style soup is a simple comfort soup made from common root vegetables and tender winter greens."
Shaheen from Allotment2Kitchen is here with her Laziest Pasta Salad, saying "I think this may really be one of the laziest pasta salad dishes I have ever made for work lunch at home. The spinach pasta packet was lurking in the back of one of the kitchen cupboards, pushed back as it not the most vibrant of colours. But it could no longer be ignored. ... The red peppers, artichokes and black olives all came out of a jar and chopped down and stirred into the cooked pasta. Then doused in even quantities with extra virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar and seasoned to taste. Lunch was served."
To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:
- Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
On your entry post (on your blog):
- Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
- You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).
Have a happy, healthy week!
Chili for the game day sounds perfect. Adding fritos makes it even better for me, I am an admitted chip-aholic!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting every week, its much appreciated and i do enjoy participating. You cannot go wrong with a good bowl of chilli and with corn chips on the side, even better when they are shaped like little spoon scoops.
ReplyDeleteGame day chili with Fritos is always a winner! I could use some of that right now as it is freezing and icy outside. I also love the sound of umami soup and lazy pasta salad is right up my alley!
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