This version was taken from hfnuala: I stood in her kitchen and noted down what she did.
Ingredients:
2 cups of dry beans. (Red kidney beans are traditional, and I like them fine, but I often mix different kinds of beans, just because I like them, too.) 1 can of tomatoes 3 large vine tomatoes 1 packet smoked tofu (Or not, if you don't like tofu. Or prefer non-smoked tofu. Or you could add, um, meat of some kind, I suppose. Lifelong vegetarian here.) 2 Scotch Bonnet chillis (Well, hell, any kind of fresh chilli, I guess: but I like Scotch Bonnets, and my local greengrocer stocks them.) 2 or 3 chipotles (I love the smoky flavour these add to the chilli.) Optional: Tomato paste. (For that really intensely tomatoey flavour. Or sundried tomatoes, if you have them, are excellent.) Aubergine, er, I mean eggplant. Mushrooms. (I wouldn't add both aubergine and mushrooms. But one or the other, if you like, can be good.) Cashew nuts. (What? I had a bowl of cashew nut chilli in a restaurant in Boston and it was delicious, though I couldn't actually taste any cashews. Good way to murder someone with a nut allergy, no?) Garlic. (I cannot quite believe I am saying that garlic is optional, but I have made a pot of chilli without garlic and, while I missed the garlic, it was still good.) Vegetable stock cube (not necessary, but in my opinion, nice).
Method:
Put the dry beans in a big bowl and pour enough boiling water over them to cover them to double their depth and leave them for at least two hours. (Yes, of course you can use equivalent amounts of canned beans and skip this step.)
When you're ready to start putting the chilli ingredients together, it does help to pour boiling water on the chipotles, just enough to cover. Leave them there for a little while and it'll be much easier to cut them up. Though if you put them in whole, it's easier for people to avoid eating them. Decisions, decisions.
Chop everything that has to be chopped. That's the tomatoes, the garlic (if you have garlic), the mushrooms or the aubergine (if you're adding either), the tofu (into small cubes), the fresh chillies, and the chipotles, if you're not putting them in whole. (It's easier to wash your hands, put the canned tomatoes into a bowl, and squoosh them into bits with your hands, than it is to chop them. I'm just saying.)
Drain the beans well. Mix the drained beans with everything else in your big chilli pot. (I use my slow cooker.) Add enough water, and the stock cube if you're using one. Switch on the slow cooker, or start the heat under the big chilli pot, and cook till done.
(In my slow cooker, this takes the usual half an hour on high, six-to-ten-hours on low. If I'm asking friends round to dinner, this means I can start soaking the beans the night before, put the rest of the ingredients together that morning, put the slow cooker on for half an hour on high while I'm still in the house, switch it to low, and then remember to buy sour cream or yoghurt on my way home from work that evening.)
Eat with grated cheese, guacamole or salsa if you have any, sour cream or yoghurt if you have any. Delicious.
no subject
Ingredients:
2 cups of dry beans. (Red kidney beans are traditional, and I like them fine, but I often mix different kinds of beans, just because I like them, too.)
1 can of tomatoes
3 large vine tomatoes
1 packet smoked tofu (Or not, if you don't like tofu. Or prefer non-smoked tofu. Or you could add, um, meat of some kind, I suppose. Lifelong vegetarian here.)
2 Scotch Bonnet chillis (Well, hell, any kind of fresh chilli, I guess: but I like Scotch Bonnets, and my local greengrocer stocks them.)
2 or 3 chipotles (I love the smoky flavour these add to the chilli.)
Optional: Tomato paste. (For that really intensely tomatoey flavour. Or sundried tomatoes, if you have them, are excellent.) Aubergine, er, I mean eggplant. Mushrooms. (I wouldn't add both aubergine and mushrooms. But one or the other, if you like, can be good.) Cashew nuts. (What? I had a bowl of cashew nut chilli in a restaurant in Boston and it was delicious, though I couldn't actually taste any cashews. Good way to murder someone with a nut allergy, no?) Garlic. (I cannot quite believe I am saying that garlic is optional, but I have made a pot of chilli without garlic and, while I missed the garlic, it was still good.) Vegetable stock cube (not necessary, but in my opinion, nice).
Method:
Put the dry beans in a big bowl and pour enough boiling water over them to cover them to double their depth and leave them for at least two hours. (Yes, of course you can use equivalent amounts of canned beans and skip this step.)
When you're ready to start putting the chilli ingredients together, it does help to pour boiling water on the chipotles, just enough to cover. Leave them there for a little while and it'll be much easier to cut them up. Though if you put them in whole, it's easier for people to avoid eating them. Decisions, decisions.
Chop everything that has to be chopped. That's the tomatoes, the garlic (if you have garlic), the mushrooms or the aubergine (if you're adding either), the tofu (into small cubes), the fresh chillies, and the chipotles, if you're not putting them in whole. (It's easier to wash your hands, put the canned tomatoes into a bowl, and squoosh them into bits with your hands, than it is to chop them. I'm just saying.)
Drain the beans well. Mix the drained beans with everything else in your big chilli pot. (I use my slow cooker.) Add enough water, and the stock cube if you're using one. Switch on the slow cooker, or start the heat under the big chilli pot, and cook till done.
(In my slow cooker, this takes the usual half an hour on high, six-to-ten-hours on low. If I'm asking friends round to dinner, this means I can start soaking the beans the night before, put the rest of the ingredients together that morning, put the slow cooker on for half an hour on high while I'm still in the house, switch it to low, and then remember to buy sour cream or yoghurt on my way home from work that evening.)
Eat with grated cheese, guacamole or salsa if you have any, sour cream or yoghurt if you have any. Delicious.