Tuesday, October 3, 2017

vegan "cincinnati style" chili

This is a mash of several recipes. Namely this one and a vegan lentil one that I'm currently unable to find (will update later if I rediscover it's origins).

What I do (I'm lazy. And I cook the same way I review books these days - sloppily and with much emotion, though usually internalized):

In a big stock pot saute a diced onion in olive oil (or if you're out of onion skip to adding water, then add spices - including powdered onion). Add spices, stir, let cook while frantically looking for a can of diced tomato. Add can of tomato (or sauce if you discover you're out - but it's better with diced tomato in my opinion). Add two cans of water (who needs measuring cups, right?) and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Drain several cans of beans. I like to use garbanzo, black, and pinto. Add to pot. Add about a cup of dried lentils. Add leftover guacamole or as much avocado as you have lying around - it can take a great amount and taste amazing. Shake in about half a cup (I've never measured this in my life) of ground flax seeds and.. er.. a quarter of a cup? A third? A generous amount of nutritional yeast. Because deliciousness (if you don't have this or don't like it, I imagine it'd be just fine without it).

Hmm. Stir, cover, simmer for as long as you can stand (at least 30 minutes - lentils need to cook. I often let it go for about an hour when I forget about it, though). Try and stir it regularly or your teenager in charge of doing the dishes will yell at you for having to clean the stuff stuck on the bottom of the pot.

Once you're ready to eat, grab a stick blender thing and blend the holy heck out of it. It will end up being delightfully lumpy and surprisingly similar in texture to the meat chili we used to make before I decided that was gross and please don't make me eat animals anymore.

Serve with pasta. Or fritos. Or whatever. With lots of cheese (because we're terrible vegans here and cheese is delicious). Freezes well, pleases most of the monsters in my house.

Let's see if I can make a list of things you need and quantities..

- diced onion (or copious dried onion powder)
- can of diced tomatoes (any size works but I use the 15-ish ounce ones)
- three cans of beans (the 15 ounce ones) - i use black, pinto, and garbanzo/chickpeas
- two cans of water (to get all that tomato out.. right?)
- a splash (tbsp?) apple cider vinegar
- spices
      - at least 1 tsp salt (but taste and add more if needed later - I don't measure this one either)
      - 1/4 cup chili powder (heaping or however you like)
      - 1 tsp cinnamon
      - 1 tsp cumin (HEAPING BECAUSE YUM)
      - 1/4 tsp allspice
      - 1/4 tsp clove
      - 1/4 tsp cayenne
      - 3/4 tbsp cocoa powder (or some bittersweet chocolate chips when you realize you're out of cocoa powder)
- 1 cup dried lentils
- 1/2 cup ground flax seeds (I use golden flax meal because it's what I have)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- several avocados or leftover guacamole

Oh gods, did this make sense? I don't cook like a sane person, I'm sorry!